LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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Shelf,...lE.k'c 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



SOUND BODIES 



FOR 



OUR BOYS AND OIRLS 



By WILLIAM BLAIKIE 

AUTHOR OF "HOW TO GET STKONG, AND HOW TO STAT SO ' 






WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



11 f'i::, 13 1833 

V- ..^d^ 



NEW YORK 

HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 
1884 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by 

HARPER & BROTHERS, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



All rights reserved. 



PREFACE. 



A LITTLE book published awbile ago, called " How to Get 
Strong, and How to Stay So," whicb urged the need and ease of 
physical culture on the public at large, has been widely and favor- 
ably received, both in this country and in Europe. Many news- 
papers — religious and secular — have urged that some of the sugges- 
tions therein be embodied in a manual arranged especially for school 
use. The design of the present manual is to meet that demand. 
Safe and simple exercises are shown. Many of these are familiar to 
gymnasts and athletes, but are not (nor is the effect of them) known 
to most boys and girls. Practised daily, they will aid in building 
better bodies. Their effect on the mind will also be favorable. For 
a sensible education of the body causes the blood-making machinery 
to make good blood instead of poor. This good blood is sent to 
the brain, and fits that organ to do more and better work, without 
risk, than it can do when fed by a poor article. The heart, the 
lungs, and all the other vital organs, are also likely to be kept 
healthy and vigorous, from being supplied with this good blood, 
and by a rational, use of the muscles daily, yet without overdoing 
them. One who is trained in this way will safely pass the over- 
work of the brain and nerves which to-day breaks down so many 
useful, but physically untrained, men and women, while they should 
still be in their prime, until nervous exhaustion has become a dis- 
order familiar to almost every physician in the land. 

The aim has been to leave no muscle undeveloped, but to call 
attention to a few exercises for each part of each limb, and all parts 
of the body. They are free from risk, are not severe enough to 
overdo, and can be learned almost in a moment. They can be 
practised in a brief interval between other studies, right in the 



IV PKEFACE. 

school-room, under the eye of the teacher. They call for no cos- 
tume, no expensive apparatus. Indeed, they will cost practically 
nothing. The effect of each is shown in a way which every boy 
and girl can easily understand as they go along, and which they will 
be very likely to appreciate as well. There is also home-work ; the 
parents can look to this. They can see also that the pupil has good 
food, ample sleep, and no stimulants. If the pupils will also make 
sure of their hour or more every day of vigorous out-door work, no 
matter what the weather is, they will come up to manhood or 
womanhood well-built, hearty, and enduring, and hence qualified 
physically to stand the wear and tear of almost any calling in 
which they may engage. Thus, as the pupils advance day by day, 
and year by year, in fitting their minds for present and future use- 
fulness, they will at the same time be building and strengthening 
their bodies, and so doing much to secure both bodily vigor and its 
companion, sound health, which Emerson says is the first wealth. 

New York, November^ 1883. 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. 



SECTION PREPARATORY LESSON. PAOB 

I. Introduction 1 

II. Getting Straight, and Enlarging the Chest 3 

To the Teacher 6 

PART 11. 

THE ARM. 

I. To Make your Fore -arms Strong. — First Fore -arm Exercise, or 

Gripping 6 

II. Exercise Makes us Warm 8 

ni. Second Fore-arm Exercise, or Twirling 9 

IV. Exercise Enlarges the Muscles 10 

V. Third Fore-arm Exercise, or Cross -twisting 12 

VI. Various Exercises which Call the Fore-arm into Play 13 

Review 15 

VII. The Biceps Muscle 16 

VIII. First Biceps Exercise, or Curling , 18 

IX. " A, B, C's " 'for the Arms 19 

X. Second Biceps Exercise, or Hand Curling 21 

XL Third " " or Double Curling 23 

XII. Making Muscles Hard 24 

XIII. Firm, not Hard, Muscles 26 

XrV. A Home Bar. — Fourth Biceps Exercise, or Pulling Up 2'7 

XV. Pulling Up— Continued. .' 30 

Review 32 

XVI. The Back-arm 34 

XVII. First Back-arm Exercise 85 

XVIII. Second " " 37 



VI CONTENTS. 

SECTION PAGE 

XIX. Third Back-arm Exercise, or Putting up One Dumb-bell 40 

XX. Fourth " " or Putting up Both Dumb-bells 42 

XXI. Fifth " " or Dipping 43 

XXII. More About Dipping 44 

XXIII. Dipping— Concluded. 46 

XXiy. Yariety of Back-arm Exercises 49 

XXV. First Inner Back-arm Exercise 51 

XXVI. Second " " " 52 

Review 54 

PART III. 

THE SHOULDER. 

I. First Front-shoulder Exercise 56 

II. Second Front-shoulder Exercise 58 

III. Third " " ...., 59 

IV. A Variety of Front-shoulder Work 60 

V. First Side-shoulder Exercise 62 

VI. Second " " 63 

VII. Third " " 64 

VIII. Fourth " " 66 

IX. Fifth » '' 67 

Review 67 

PART IV. 

THE UPPER -BACK. 

I. First Upper-back Exercise 69 

II. Second Upper-back Exercise 70 

III. Third " " 72 

IV. First Home Exercise for the Upper-back and to Broaden the Shoulders 74 
V. Second " " " " " " 76 

VI. A Variety of "Work for the Upper-back 77 

Review 79 

PART V. 

THE SMALL OE THE BACK. 

I. General Remarks 80 

II. First Exercise for the Back of the Waist 82 



CONTENTS. Vii 

SECTION PAQK 

III. Second Exercise for the Back of the Waist 83 

IV. Third " " " " 84 

V. Various other Exercises for the Back of the Waist 85 

PART VI. 

THE SIDES. 

I. First Side Exercise 81 

II. Second " " 88 

III. Third " " 89 

IV. Various other Exercises for the Sides of the Waist 91 

Review , 93 

PART VII. 

THE CHEST. 

I. General Remarks _ 94 

II. First Chest Exercise 96 

III. Second " " 97 

IV. Third " " 99 

V. Fourth " " or Half-dipping ....100 

VI. Fifth " " or Dipping 102 

VII. The Value of a Good Chest 103 

VIII. First Home Chest Exercise 104 

IX. Second " " " 106 

X. Third " " " 109 

XI. Results of Chesi Exercise 110 

Review 112 

PART VIII. 

THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. 

I. Some of the Uses of these Muscles 114 

II. First Exercise for the Abdominal Muscles. 117 

III. Second " " " " 118 

IV. The Toe-straps 119 

V. Various other Exercises for the Abdominal Muscles 121 

VI. First Counter-exercise for the Abdominal Muscles 123 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

SECTION PAOB 

YII. Second Counter-exercise for the Abdominal Muscles = 124 

VIII. A Variety of Counter-exercises for the Abdominal Muscles 125 

Keview 127 

PART IX. 

THE FRONT OF THE THIGH. 

I. First Front-of-the-thigh Exercise 128 

11. Second " " " 129 

III. Third " " " 131 

IV. Fourth " " » 132 

V. Fifth " " " or Running 133 

VI. Variety of Exercises for the Front of the Thigh 135 

Review 137 

PART X. 

THE UNDER SIDE OF THE THIGH. 

I. First Under-side-of-the-thigh Exercise 138 

II. Second " " " 140 

III. Third " " " 141 

PART XI. 

THE LEG BELOW THE KNEE. 

I. Work for the Leg below the Knee 144 

n. First Below-the-knee Exercise 145 



III. Second 

IV. Third 
V. Fourth 

VI. Fifth 
VII. Sixth 



146 
147 
149 
150 
152 



VIII. A Variety of Below-the-knee Work 153 

PART XII. 

THE SHIN MUSCLE. 

I. First Shin-muscle Exercise 156 

n. Second " " 158 

Review 160 



CONTENTS. IX 



Remarks 161 

I, Average State of Development of 200 Men on Entering Bowdoin 

College Gymnasium , 162 

II. Average State of the Growth and Development of 200 Men after 

having Practised in the same Gymnasium for Six Months 162 

III. Average Increase of 200 Students in Various Measurements, at the 

same College, in Six Months 163 

IV. Effect of Four Hours' Exercise a Week for One Tear upon a Youth 

of 19 at the same College 163 

V. Course of Gymnastic Training on Fifteen Youths at the Royal Mili- 
tary Academy, Woolwich , 164 

VI. Table of lleasurements, Showing the Effect of Seven Months and 

Nineteen Days' Exercise 165 

VII. Result of One Year's Continuous Practice with Two Pupils 166 

VIII. Table of Measurements (for Boy), Showing Effect of Daily Exercise. . 167 
IX. " " (for Girl) " " " .. 168 



SOUND BODIES 

FOE OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



PART I.— PREPARATORY LESS0:N^. 
SECTION I. 

INTEODUCTION. 

Why are so many boys and girls not erect ? Look in 
almost any school and you see that many of the pupils, 
whether sitting or standing, are never straight. Heads are 
forward ; shoulders double over a little, sometimes a good 
deal; chests incline to droop, and grow flat. Fine, full chests, 
and an easy, graceful carriage, are rare. 

As the pupils get older, these faults, instead of going away, 
grow worse. 

Can this be helped ? Is there any way to make a crooked 
boy or girl straight ? Take a slim, angular boy, for instance, 
whose father is round-shouldered and flat-chested — and per- 
haps his mother, too : can he become straight, like a soldier ? 

Yes, in many ways. Let him wear a collar of stiff paste- 
board or sole-leather an inch high at the back and three inches 
high in front, and see how, soon he will get his chin up, and 
hk chest — what there is of it — out. Make him walk two 
miles a day, with a dozen pounds of glass or china-ware on a 
tray on top of his head, and which he must pay for if he 
breaks, and now let him slouch forward — if he dare. Slap 

1 



2 SOUND BODIES FOR OUK BOYS AND GIRLS. 

the backs of his hands together as high up over his head as 
he can reach, holding his head well back. Do it a thousand 
times daily, and see if it does not take the crook out of him. 

But must he do some one of these unpleasant things before 
he can get straight? Not at all. There are far easier ways 
just as handy and as sure. Here is one of them : 



Directions. — 1. Stand about four feet apart in the aisles, 
with arms folded behind you, and with one foot about eight 

inches in front of the other. 

2. Now draw the head back, 
and tip it as far down behind 
you as you can. 

3. Hold the chin up high, as 
in Fig. 1. 

4. Rest there a moment ; then 
stand up straight again. 

5. Repeat this exercise six 
times. 

Caution. — Breathe deep, fall 
breaths all the time; indeed, al- 
ways, when exercising-, breathe 
slowly, and as large breaths as 
you can. 

That is enough the first 
morning. In the afternoon 
again repeat this exercise six 
times. But this is very easy. 
Why not do more than six? 
Because, while it is easy for 
some, it is not so easy for oth- 
ers. Also, because it is a com- 
Fig, 1. mon mistake with beginners to 




PKEPAKATOEY LESSON. 3 

work too hard at first, and so they get lame and sore in the 
muscles they overwork, when, if they would begin with only 
a little exercise each day the first week, and then do more the 
next week, and more yet the third, their muscles would grad- 
ually get used to the work, and would be all the time getting 
stronger, so that in a month they could work almost as hard 
as they liked, and not be hurt by it at all. However, if the 
muscles do get sore, that is a small matter, and usually in a 
day or two the ache goes away, and does not come back. 

Questions. 

1. Name three uncomfortable ways of helping to make a crooked boy 
or girl straight. 

2. Now describe one easy way of doing the same thing. 

3. How far apart should the pupils stand in this exercise ? 

4. How should you breathe during it ? 

5. What mistake do people often make when they begin to exercise ? 

6. How can they avoid becoming lame and sore, and still keep getting 
stronger all the time ? 



SECTION II. 
GETTING STEAIGHT AND ENLARGING THE CHEST. 

What has this tipping the head back done ? 

Several things. It has set the back of the neck at work — 
for there are muscles in the back of the neck which draw the 
head backwards. So it has helped to make the back of the 
neck strong; and shapely, too. Also it has thrown the chin 
up high. 

Well, what does that do ? 

Why, 9/ou can not raise your chin high up without lifting 
the whole fro7it of your chest at the ^ame time. 

Try it and see. Hollow your chest and waist in, drawing 
your chin down, and leaning your head over forward, so that 



4 SOUND BODIES FOE OUE BOYS AND GIELS. 

you look down at your feet. Sit, stand, or walk habitually 
with your chin down in this way, and you will soon cramp 
your lungs and stomach till, by-and-by, you will get weak. 
Yet hundreds of thousands of people, whose work keeps them 
indoors, sit so for the greater part of each day. But now 
raise the chin up as high as you can, until your eyes look up 
at the ceiling right over your head. Hold your chin that way 
a moment. You feel at once that your chest stands out fuller 
than usual. Stand before a glass and do the same thing, and 
you will see how it raises and expands your chest, and makes 
it stand out full and well. Or, put your hand on the front of 
the lower ribs, and, as you draw your chin up, you will at once 
feel your whole chest swelling outward and forward. 

In short, ichatever draios your chin downward — unless the 
head is held far back at the same time — tends to make your 
chest flat and small ; while lohatever lifts the chin loell upward^ 
is sure to help make your chest large and full. All your life 
it icill pay to know this by heart. 

And what good does it do to make the chest large and full ? 

It not only improves its looks, and so also the looks of its 
owner, but it makes the lungs inside of the chest larger and 
stronger, and thus helps to keep away consumption and other 
lung disease, and so, often, to save one's life.* It also gives 

* Dr. Morgan, in his Enghsh "University Oars," on this point says : 
"An addition of three inches to the circumference of the chest im-, 
plies that the lungs, instead of containing two hundred and fifty cubic 
inches of air, as they did before their functional activity was exalted, are 
now capable of receiving three hundred cubic inches of air within their 
cells ; the value of this augmented lung accommodation will readily be 
admitted. Suppose, for example, that a man is attacked by inflammation 
of the lungs, by pleurisy, or some one of the varied forms of consump- 
tion, it may readily be conceived that, in such an emergency, the posses- 
sion of enough lung tissue to admit forty or fifty additional cubic inches 
of air will amply suffice to turn the scale on the side of recovery. It 
assists a patient successfully to tide over tlu critical stage of his disease. " 



PREPAKATOEY LESSON. 5 

the heart, stomach, and other vital organs more room, so that 
they can work more freely. It makes it easy to sit or stand 
erect, tones up the general health, helps to prolong life (while 
cramping the chest tends to shorten it), and it brings a feeling 
of spirit and vigor, which a delicate or sick person often longs 
for, but does not know. 

Here, then, are one or two ways to help make a boy or girl 
straight, while others may be suggested later. 

Questions. 

1. Name four things this tipping the head back has done. 

2. If you hold your chin up high, what does that do to your chest ? 

3. If you sit, or stand, or walk much with your chin drooping forward 
or down, what will this do to your lungs and stomach ? 

4. What effect has it on your whole chest to hold your chin up high ? 

5. And what good does it do to make the chest large and full ? 

6. What effect has it on the heart, stomach, and other vital organs ? 

7. How does it affect health and life ? 

8. What does Dr. Morgan say that a large chest will do for one who 
has pleurisy or any disorder of the lungs ? 



To THE Teacher. — After the pupils have recited the lesson, let them 
stand up and practise the exercise it describes — the teacher offering any 
hints likely to help them perform it correctly. 

Fifteen minutes' practice in school each day will be enough. Divide 
this period among such exercises as have already been learned, until the 
time expires. When so far along that time can be spared for only a part 
of the old exercises in addition to the new, it will be well to select one 
exercise out of each set learned until that time, thus keeping up the 
progress of each part, of body and limb, instead of using only one or two. 
For instance, if the class has reached the "Exercises for the Upper-back," 
they might divide the first few minutes between " Twirling" for the fore- 
arm, "Double Curling" for the biceps muscles, one of the "Back-arm 
Exercises," one of those for the "Front of the Shoulder," and one of 
those for the " Side of the Shoulder," the teacher choosing different ones 
on different days, thus giving each part work to do, and so making 
progress in each all the time. At the reviews they can go over all the 
exercises they have learned, if necessary taking several days to do them all. 



SOUND BODIES FOE OUR BOYS AND GIKLS. 



PART II.— THE ARM. 



SECTIOK I. 



TO MAKE YOUE FOEE-AEMS STEONG. FIEST FOEE-AEM EXEE- 

CISE, OE GEIPPING. 

Is there no way to make such boys and girls strong also ? 
For a slim and poorly-built boy or girl may learn to walk 
erect almost as well as a well-built or hearty one. But that 
is not enough. They would like to be strong also, if they 
could. But can they ? Let us see. 

First let us have a name or two. The hand, of course, every 
one knows ; also the wrist. But the part of the arm between 
the elbow and hand — what is the name of this ? This is called 
th-Q fore-arm. And the part of the arm above the elbow ? Let 
us call this the upper-arm. 

We will observe shortly that making the arms large and 
strong helps to make much of the body strong also. So let 
us begin with the arm. 

Is it possible that a boy or girl with slim, weak arms can 
make those same arms large, and strong, and well-shaped, by- 
and-by? We will see. Let us begin with th.Q fore-arms. 

Directions. — 1. Hold your right hand out in front of you, 
as if you were going to shake hands. 

2. Shut it tightly, drawing the thumb and each finger in 
as closely as you can ; in other words, shut your fist. 

3. Now open it till each finger is out straight again. 

4. Repeat this exercise twenty times with each hand. 



THE ARM. 



Why, that is easy enough. Well, if you should do it again, 
and keep on till you had done it a hundred times, may be it 
would not prove such play after all. While you are thus 
shutting and opening your right hand, catch hold of your 
right fore-arm with your other hand, and feel how it is at 
work. Why, it seems as if the whole fore-arm was very busy. 
And so it is. But now just put your left hand on your right 
arm again, but this time on your right upper-arm, not on the 
fore-arm. Keep on opening and closing your right hand as 
before. Why, you can hardly feel the upper-arm move at all. 
It is pretty plain now that we know one exercise at least which 
sets the fore-arm at work. Of course, a hundred such grips 
each day at first will be too many, and will make the fore-arm 
ache. Twenty each day for the first week will be enough. 
The second week go on gripping for a whole minute without 
stopping, and now you will find that fifty such grips — for 
they must all be vigorous ones — are very little harder to do 
than twenty were at first. 

After the second week, practise this gripping for a whole 
minute each day right along in school, and as much more out 
of school as you like. 

Questions. 

1. What part of the arm is called the fore-arm ? 

2. What is the part of the arm above the elbow called ? 

3. Describe the First Fore-arm Exercise. 

4. What part of the arm does this exercise set at work ? 

5. Does it do the same for the upper-arm ? 

6. Why not do a hundred grips each day at first ? 

7. How many are enough daily the first week ? 

8. How long each day should you thus grip during the second week ? 

9. What kind of grips should they be ? 

10. How many times should you grip daily after the second week ? 



8 SOUND BODIES FOE OUB BOYS AND GIELS. 

SECTION II. 

EXERCISE MAKES TS WARM. 

But see another thing. While you are gripping, look at 
the veins in the back of your hands and over your fore-arm, 
and you will notice that they get larger and fuller towards 
the end of this exercise, and for a while afterwards, than they 
were when you began. 

What does this mean ? Well, this vigorous action of the 
fore -arm has drawn far more blood into these veins than 
usual. For, although, of course, the blood is moving through 
our veins all the time, yet, lohen we use any muscles vigor- 
ously — and much of the flesh on our arms or any part of us 
is really muscle — the hlood at once rushes oftener and more 
forcibly to the veins in and near the muscles so used. 

Look at the thin, feeble threads of veins in the hand or arm 
of a person emaciated by sickness. Now notice in the black- 
smith's powerful arm and hand how these same veins are full, 
swollen, and healthy, like little rivers. The difference is very 
marked. 

And this rich, hearty blood of the strong man does some- 
thing more than merely swell the veins. It makes him warmer. 

Observe a man chopping wood on a winter day. So warm 
does the exercise make him that he will work either in a thin 
coat, or often in his shirt-sleeves, while a person standing near 
by him, and not exercising, but simply remaining still, needs, 
besides a coat, a thick overcoat to keep him warm. But let 
the chopper stand still a few minutes, and he also soon cools 
off and needs his coat, thus showing that it is the exercise 
which keeps him warm. Or, walk fast when you are cold, 
and see how quickly you become warm from your sudden 
activity. 



THE AKM. 



9 



Questions. 

1. During this exercise, what happens to the veins in your hand and 
fore-arm ? 

2. Why do the veins thus get large while exercising the fore-arm ? 

3. What effect does using any muscles vigorously have on the veins in 
and near them ? 

4. Who has the fuller and richer veins, the sick man or the blacksmith? 

5. What else does the abundant and hearty blood of a strong person 
do besides swelling his veins ? 

6. Give an instance of this. 

7. Name another instance, besides the case of the chopper. 



SECTION III. 

SECOND FOEE-ABM EXERCISE, OK TWIELING. 

So far we have had one exercise for the 
fore-arm. — one that can be easily practised 
at school, at home, or almost anywhere. 
But the best place for it is the school-room, 
for here you have company at it, a time set 
apart purposely for it, and a teacher to aid 
you in doing it correctly. 

Directions. — 1. Take a stick, cane, or piece 
of a broom-handk, of hard wood, about half 
as thick as your wrist is wide, and as long 
as your arm, 

2. Stand erect, and breathe slowly and 
deeply, holding the chin as high as you can. 

3. Now catch the stick by the end, hold 
it far out from the body. 

4. Twirl it, first far over one way (as in Fig. 
2) . Then as far over the other way as you 
can till your finger-nails are turned upward. 

1* 




Fig. 2. 



10 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

5. Do this twenty times without stopping. 

Twenty times daily will be enough for the first week. In- 
crease the number to forty each day the second week, and to 
sixty daily after that. 

Feel the fore-arm while it is in action, and you will find 
how firm and strong its muscles suddenly seem. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Second Fore-arm Exercise, or Twirling. 

2. How long and how thick should the stick be ? 

3. How should you stand during this exercise ? 

4. How should you breathe ? 

5. How should the chin be held ? 

6. How many times daily should you twirl the stick during the first 
week ? 

7. How many each day the second week ? 

8. And how many daily after that ? 

9. How do the muscles of your fore-arm feel during this exercise ? 



SECTION IV. 

EXERCISE ENLARGES THE MUSCLES. 

Before the first month is past, you will find that you can 
twirl the stick a hundred times without stopping, almost as 
easily as you did twenty times at first, before your fore-arm 
got strong. 

But, besides being stronger now, is it also any larger ? 

If, before you began these exercises, you had put a tape- 
measure about it at the largest part — a little below the elbow 
— and if now, at the end of the month, you measure it at the 
same place again, you will probably find that it is all of a 
twelfth of an inch larger than before. 

Why, that is not much ! No, not for a year, perhaps ; but 
it is pretty good for a single month ; and if you can gain that 



THE ARM. 11 

each month for a whole year, it would amount to a whole 
inch at the end of the year, enough probably to give you the 
largest fore-arm of any boy or girl of your age and size in the 
school — if the others are not steadily using their fore-arms as 
you are — and to give you the best-shaped fore-arm as well. 

In Appendix, Table III,, you will see that not one student, but two 
hundred, each enlarged their fore -arms three quarters of an inch by 
exercise, not in one year, but in half a year, working only two hours a 
week, or about twenty minutes a day ; while three men (see Appendix, 
Table VI.) increased their fore-arms in seven months and nineteen days 
a whole inch and a quarter. 

Of course you must do as much and as hard work with one 
arm as you do with the other, or the one which does the more 
work will be stronger and handsomer than its mate. 

Very often, indeed, usually in persons who are right-handed, 
the left arm is weaker and smaller than the right arm — some- 
times as much as half an inch smaller — whether you measure 
it about the fore-arm or about the upper-arm. So left-handed 
persons will have the right arm the smaller one. In short, 
the arm which gets the more work is the stronger. It is plain 
what to do in such a case. Give about all the exercise to the 
weak arm for the first few weeks, until it gets as large and 
strong as its mate. Then, after it has thus caught up, give 
each the same kind and amount of exercise daily, so that they 
will remain of like size and strength. 

Questions. 

1. By the end of the first month how many times can you twirl the 
stick almost as easily as you could twenty times at first ? 

3. What effect will this first months' work be Mkely to have on the size 
of the fore-arm ? 

3. How much larger ? 

4. How much would this little gain each month make the fore-arm in 
even one year ? 



12 



SOUKD BODIES FOE OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



5. State how mucli two hundred students in Bowdoin College enlarged 
their fore-arms in six months by exercise, and how much three soldiers in 
England enlarged theirs in seven months and nineteen days. 

6. If you only exercise with one arm, how will that arm compare hy- 
and-hy with the other one ? 

7. Which arm of right-handed persons is usually the larger ? 

8. Which arm of left-handed persons is usually the smaller ? 

9. Why is this ? 

10. What should be done to the weaker arm in that case ? 

11. After it has caught up with the other arm, what kind and amount 
of work should you give each arm daily ? 




Fig. 3. 



SECTION V. 

THIRD FORE -ARM EXERCISE, OR 
CROSS-TWISTING. 

Dii-ections. — 1. Catch the stick 
with both hands and hold it out 
in front of you, as in Fig. 3. 

2. Hold the chest well out, and 
the chin up. 

3. Breathe deep, full breaths. 

4. Hold the stick as tightly 
with both hands as you can. 

5. Now twist it strongly with 
your right hand, so as to turn it 
away from you ; but at the same 
time twist it with your left hand, 
so as to turn it towards you. 

6. Repeat this exercise three 
times. 

This makes one hand twist it 
just the opposite way from the 
other, and thus both hands twist 



THE ARM. 13 

crossways. Of course, the harder you twist with one hand, the 
more icorJc it makes for the other, and the less the stick really 
moves. 

For most boys and girls three such twists each day will be 
enough the first week, six the second week, and ten after that. 

But they want to be good hard twists, no make-believe 
affairs. This will take less than a minute each day ; but it is 
grand work for the fore-arms, and will soon begin to increase 
their size and strength. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Third Fore-arm Exercise, or Cross-twisting. 

2. How should you stand during this exercise ? 

3. How should the chin be held ? 

4. How should you breathe ? 

5. If you keep twisting the stick harder with one hand, what effect 
does it have on the other ? 

6. How many such grips should you take daily each week ? 

7. Of what kind should they be ? 

8. How long will they take daily ? 

9. What will be the effect on the fore-arms ? 



SECTION VI. 

VAEIOUS EXEKCISES WHICH CALL THE FOEE-ARM INTO PLAT. 

After the first 'month is past, and you find that these three 
exercises are becoming easy, and do not tire you at all, then 
you are getting your fore-arms strong enough for many kinds 
of exercise which need good fore - arms. Such is any work 
where the hands have to grasp a thing firmly or hold it tightly. 
For example, as in - 

1. Rowing, 

2. Driving a hard-mouthed horse. 

3. Carrying a pail of water, a hod of coal, or other heavy weight 

in the hand. 



14 SOUND BODIES FOE OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

4. Sword exercise. 

5. House-painting. 

6. Sawing wood. 

7. PitcMng hay or grain. 

8. Cutting grass or grain with a sickle. 

9. Boring with a large gimlet with one hand. 

10. Hammering with a heavy hammer. 

11. Paddling a canoe. 

12. Pulling yourself up on a bar or rope until your chin touches 

your hands. 

13. Lifting any heavy weight from the ground. 

14. Pulling on a stout rope, as, for instance, in the game called the 

"tug-of-war." 

15. Climbing up a rope, or peg-pole, with the hands alone. 

16. Anything, in short, which uses the hand vigorously and keeps 

it shut, or partly shut, in gripping or clutching some object, 
is about sure, if faithfully followed up a little each day, to 
at length bring you good fore-arms. 

These exercises are named here to give the pupils a variety 
of work from which they can choose the kind that each pre- 
fers, or finds convenient for practice out of school. 

If each day, in the exercises in school, they will give only 
the brief time called for above for the First, Second, or Third 
Fore-arm Exercise — scarcely a minute in all — and then, out 
of school, will try even only a few minutes of vigorous work 
at whichever one they like of the Various Exercises which 
Call the Fore-arm into Play, and most of which, of course, 
can be done better out of school, they may feel confident 
that, by the end of the year, they will probably gain from 
half an inch to an inch in the girth of each fore-arm. This, 
of course, will make one very satisfactory entry for their 
" Table of Measurements " * at the end of the school-year. 

* See Appendix, Tables YIH. and IX. 



THE ARM. 15 

Questions. 

1. How many weeks should you practise these First, Second, and 
Third Fore-arm Exercises, before trying harder fore-arm work ? 

2. And what has this month of work at these simple exercises been 
doing for your fore-arm ? 

3. Name various other exercises which call the fore-arms into play. 

4. Why are these exercises named here ? 

5. If you will spead a minute each school-day during the year at the 
First, Second, and Third Fore-arm Exercises, and a few minutes daily out 
of school at some one or more of the exercises named in the list as good 
for the fore-arms, how much larger may you fairly hope to make your 
fore-arms, even in one year ? 

6. Must the work done out of school be sleepy or vigorous ? 



REVIEW. 

1. What mistake do people often make when they begin to exercise ? 

2. How can they avoid becoming lame and sore, yet keep gaining 
strength all the time ? 

3. How should the chin be held in nearly all exercises ? 

4. What effect on the chest has holding the chin up high ? 

5. What good does it do to make the chest large and full ? 

6. How does it affect the vital organs generally, and also the health ? 

7. What does Dr. Morgan say of its effect on one who has any disorder 
of the lungs ? 

8. What do you -call the part of the arm below the elbow ? 

9. Above the elbow ? 

10. Describe the Gripping Exercise. 

11. What part of the arm does this set at work ? 

12. What effect has this exercise on the veins of the arm ? 

13. Who has the richer veins, the sick man or the strong one ? 

14. Besides swelling his veins, what else does vigorous exercise do ? 

15. Give an instance of this. 

16. Describe Twirling, 

17. Describe the stick to be used in this exercise. 

18. How many twirls should be done daily after the second week ? 

19. How do the muscles of the fore-arm feel during this exercise ? 



16 



SOUND BODIES FOE OUE BOYS AND GIKLS. 



20. What gain will these fore-arm exercises likely effect in one year ? 

21. If you exercise with only one arm, what will be the result ? 

22. Which arm is usually the larger, the right or left ? 

23. Why is this? 

24. What should be done to the weaker arm in this case ? 

25. After the arms are of equal size and strength, what kind and 
amount of work should be given to each daily ? 

26. Describe the Third Fore-arm Exercise, or Twisting. 

27. How many such twists should be taken daily after the second week? 

28. How many weeks should these three fore-arm exercises be practised 
before trying harder fore-arm work ? 

29. What effect has this first month of work had on the fore-arms ? 

30. JSTame various other exercises which call the 
fore-arm into play. 

31. Should the work be sleepy or vigorous ? 




SECTION yii. 



THE BICEPS MUSCLE. 



Fig. 4 



]N"ow let us do something for the upper- 
arm. 

Take any convenient weight in the right 
hand — for example, a heavy book, a dumb- 
bell,* a brick, or a pail of water, though a 
dumb-bell is the most handy. 

Let your right hand, with this weight in 
it, hang easily at your side. IN^ow raise it 
slowly and steadily till you get it as near 
as you can to your shoulder, as in Fig. 4. 

* All the dumb-bells needed for any exercise 
mentioned in this manual are : for each boy a 
pair, each of which weighs about one fifteenth 
as much as he does ; and for each girl a pair, 
each weighing about one twentieth as much as she 
does. They usually cost about five cents a pound. 



THE AEM. 17 

Keep your right elbow near your body all the time. Now 
lower the weight slowly till it is at your side. 

Raise it again. This time, as you raise it, grasp your right 
upper-arm in front with your left hand, as in the figure, and 
feel the muscle at work. While the right arm hangs down, 
this muscle is soft ; but, as you raise the weight, this muscle 
begins to swell and harden till the weight gets near your 
shoulder, and then is larger than ever. 

Indeed, this is the chiej rnuscle which raises your hand. 
Hence it is one of the most useful. Whenever you lift any- 
thing enough to bend your elbow, this muscle does much of 
the lifting. You can scarcely touch your hand to your head, 
or put food into your mouth, without using this muscle. 

Hence this very useful part deserves a little extra notice, so 
we will call it by its Latin name (the only one in this little 
book) — the biceps muscle. 

Now, the heavier the weight you lift to your shoulder, the 
more this biceps muscle will harden. 

Also notice that, while you thus harden it, the back of your 
upper-arm does not harden at all. This shows that the exer- 
cise you are taking sets the biceps at work, but not the rest 
of the upper-arm. 

Let us have, then, a little work for the biceps muscle. 

Questions. 

1. If you raise any weight in your right hand from your side to your 
shoulder, what will it do to the front of the upper right arm ? 

2. Whenever you bend your elbow, what muscle do you use ? 

3. What is the name of this muscle on the front of the upper-arm ? 

4. When you lift a heavy weight up to your shoulder with either arm, 
what effect does it have on the biceps muscle of that arm ? 

5. Does it also harden the back of the upper-arm ? 

6. Then, if this exercise makes the front of the upper-arm — that is, the 
biceps — hard, but the back-arm does not get hard at all, what part of the 
upper-arm does it develop ? 



18 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

SECTION VIII. 

FIRST BICEPS EXERCISE, OR CURLING. 

Directions. — 1. Take a dumb-bell in your right band. 

2. Let your right hand bang down at your side until the 
elbow is straight. 

3. Stand erect. 

4. Hold the chest out full. 

5. Keep the chin up high. 

6. Breathe a deep, slow breath. 

7. Slowly raise the dumb-bell until it is up in front of your 
right shoulder, as in Fig. 4, page 16. 

8. Hold it there a moment. 

9. Now lower it slowly to your side again. 

10. Repeat this ten times. 

11. Rest a minute. 

12. Now do the same ten times with your left hand, keep- 
ing the chin always up. 

Gymnasts call this exercise curling. 

This will be enough for the first day. Each day the first 
week curl the dumb-bells ten times, with each hand, without 
stopping. You may feel like doing it more than ten. But do 
not, at least in school. For while ten may be easy to you, it 
may be hard for some of the others. 

The second week curl the dumb-bells fifteen times each day, 
with each hand, without stopping. After that, do it twenty 
times daily, with each hand, right along. 

Not only breathe deeply, with your chin up high, just be- 
fore you lift the dumb-bell each time, but hold your breath — 
that is, keep all the air in your lungs — until you finish lifting 
the dumb-bell, and it is clear up, right in front of, and close 



THE ARM. 19 

to, your shoulder. For one can lift much better, or do any 
kind of hard work better, with the chest full of air. It is 
well to bear this in mind. Men who are used to lifting heavy 
weights take a deep, full breath, hold it all in their lungs, 
keeping the mouth shut, and then make their lift. 

You can not only lift better, but you can jump better, swim 
better, row better, speak better, sing better, in short, make 
almost any effort better, if you fill your lungs with a deep 
breath just before you make each effort. For you are really 
stronger iohe7i your chest is full than when it is not full. 

Questions. 

I. Describe the First Biceps Exercise. 

3. How should you stand during this exercise ? 

3. How should the chin be held ? 

4. How should you breathe ? 

5. What do gymnasts call this exercise ? 

6. How many times daily, the first week, should you curl the dumb- 
bells in each hand ? 

7. "Why not more than ten times daily at first ? 

8. How many times should you curl them each day the second week ? 

9. And after that how many times a day ? 

10. How do men used to lifting heavy weights breathe when they lift ? 

II. What else can you do better with your lungs full than if they are 
partly full ? 

13. Are you stronger when your chest is full or when it is not full ? 



SECTION IX. 
"a, b, c's" foe the aems. 



Curling is a capital exercise for making the biceps muscles 
strong. For, as we all know, many boys and girls have not 
strong arms at all. Indeed, their arms are often so weak that 
they ought, almost, to be ashamed of them. Out of a class 
of forty boys or girls, you will often find that three quarters 



20 



SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



of them have not strong enough arms to take hold of a bar, 
up as high as they can reach, and pull up until their chin 
touches the bar, as in Fig. 5, even once. But any boy or 

girl, with arms at all 
strong, ought to be able 
to pull up thus from six 
to ten times without stop- 
ping; while any one with 
thoroughly strong arms 
can do it twelve or fifteen 
times, and even more.^ 
However, we will come 
to this harder work later 
on. What we want now, 
in practising these exer- 
cises, is to teach the arms 
their a, b, c's, to get them 
ready for any good, vig- 
orous loork their owner 
may want to do with 
them hy-and-hy, to make 
them strong and hand- 
some as well as useful, 
and to add to the health 
and vigor of their owner. 

Fig. 5. 

Questions. 

1. Have most school boys and girls strong arms ? 

2. Give an instance, showing that they have not. 

3. What number of such pulls ought any boy or girl, with arms at all 
strong, to do without stopping ? 

4. How many such pulls can any one, with thoroughly strong arms, do? 

5. What is the object of practising these exercises ? 

6. What other good results may we expect from these arm- exercises, 
besides making our arms useful ? 




THE AKM. 



21 



SECTION X. 

SECOND BICEPS EXERCISE, OR HAND CURLING. 

Directions. — 1. Stand erect, with tlie chin always turned up- 
ward. 

2. Hold your right hand down at your side, not quite as low 
as you can, but bend your elbow a little. 

3. Breathe slowly and deeply. 

4. Place your left hand in your right hand, as in Fig. 6. 

5. Bear down firmly with your left hand. 

6. At the same time, lift strongly with 
your right hand, until it is up in front of 
your right shoulder. 

Y. Lower your right hand to your side, 
then bear down on it with your left hand, 
and lift up again as before. 

8. Repeat this five times. 

9. Rest a little. 

10. Place your right hand in your left, 
in exactly the same way, and this time curl 
with your left hand five times, until you 
get it up in front of your left shoulder. 

ISTow what have we been doing ? Almost 
exactly the same thing as in the First Bi- 
ceps Exercise. 

There we curled a dumb-bell up to the 
shoulder, our biceps muscle doing most of 
the work. Here we curl - another weight 
— heavier than the dumb-bell — up to the 
shoulder by exactly the same motion, and 
by using the same muscle. 

You do not want to bear on with your 




22 SOUND BODIES FOE OUR BOYS AND GIELS. 

upper hand as hard as you can, simply because that makes the 
weight too heavy, and the work too hard at first, when your 
muscles are weak and soft, and not used to hard work. 

Each day the first week bear down in this way, with your 
left hand on your right, five times without stopping. Bear 
down vigorously, but not as hard as you can. 

Repeat this five times daily the first week. Each day the 
second week, bear down ten times with your left hand on your 
right, without stojDping. Rest a little. Then bear down ten 
times with your right hand on your left without stopping. 
After the second week, bear down in this way fifteen times 
daily, on each hand. 

This will not take long, only a minute or two daily on each 
hand. But it is grand for the biceps muscle, and can be done 
almost anywhere — in school or out, at home or when you are 
travelling, in doors or out. And the apparatus does not cost 
a single cent, for you always have it with you. 

If you feel sleepy when you rise in the morning, try this 
exercise just for a minute, and see how it will brighten you up. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Second Biceps Exercise, or Hand Curling. 

2. Instead of a dumb-bell, what kind of a weight have we been curling 
this time ? 

3. Should you bear on with your upper hand in this exercise as hard 
as you can ? 

4. Why not? 

5. Are muscles which are not used to vigorous exercise strong ? 

6. How are they ? 

7. How many times daily the first week will it be enough to do this 
exercise ? 

8. How many each day the second week with each hand ? 

9. How many a day after that ? 

10. How long each day will this take ? 

11. Where can this exercise be practised ? 

12. How much does the apparatus for it cost ? 



THE ARM. 



23 



SECTION XI. 

THIED BICEPS EXERCISE, OR DOUBLE CTTELESTa. 

In the First Biceps Exercise we had only one dumb-bell, 
using it first in one hand, and then in the other. Now try 
one dumb-bell in each hand. 

Directions. — 1. Stand erect. 

2. Hold the chin up high. 

3. Let your arms hang 
down straight. 

4. Hold the chest out full. 

5. Now slowly curl the 
bells until they are opposite 
your shoulders, as in Fig. V. 

6. Hold them there a mo- 
ment. 

7. Then gradually lower 
them till they hang down 
again. 

8. Curl them in this way 
eight times without stop- 
ping. 

Do this eight times each 
day the first week, twelve 
times daily the second week, 
and fifteen times each day 
thereafter right along. , Pig, 7. 

Notice one thing in this 
exercise. Instead of bringing the dumb-bells up directly in 
front of your shoulders, turn the hands well outward at your 
sides as you begin, and so raise them until, when they are up 




24 SOUND BODIES FOE OUR BOYS AND GIELS. 

highest, they come opposite the side or corner of the shoulder, 
as in Fig. 7. The advantage of this is that, while it makes 
the biceps muscles full and strong, it likewise helps to make 
the chest broad, and full, and shapely. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Third Biceps Exercise. 

2. Give another name for it. 

3. How should the chin be held ? 

4. How many times should you thus curl the dumb-bells each day the 
first week ? 

5. How many the second week ? 

6. How many a day thereafter ? 

7. How should the hands be held in this exercise ? 

8. Opposite what part of the shoulder should the dumb-bell be when 
it is up highest in this exercise ? 

9. Name some advantages of this exercise. 



SECTION xn. 

MAKING MUSCLES HAKD. 



It has been seen that the vigorous exercise not only makes 
a muscle strong, but also makes it harder than before. 

Now, while boys like to have their muscles hard and strong, 
many girls may think they would not like to have hard mus- 
cles, but that those are only for boys and men. 

Well, they may give over all fears on this point. And for 
this reason : 

Exercise does take soft muscles and gradually make them 
firmer. But to make muscles really hard, instead of exercis- 
ing them a few minutes a day, as proposed here, you have 
either to spend a long time each day, often hours, at it, or else 
do exceedingly hard work for a shorter time. See how a 
blacksmith swings his heavy sledge-hammer often eight, nine. 



THE AEM. 25 

and ten hours a day. Feel his arm, and you find it almost as 
hard as a bone. So it is with the stone-mason and any one 
else who has to lift heavy weights with his hands all day 
long. 

Let this blacksmith or any other strong man, through a 
wound, accident, or sickness, be kept on his bed for weeks, as 
was President Garfield. Try his arm, and you find it limp 
and weak, and softer even than your own. But when this 
same blacksmith gets out and back to his shop again, little 
by little, day by. day, the returning health and the hard work 
render his muscles firmer and firmer, until he recalls to us 
him whom Longfellow so happily described when he wrote : • 

" Beneath a spreading cliestnut-tree 
The village smithy stands ; 
The smith a mighty man is he. 
With large and sinewy hands ; 
And the muscles of his brawny arms 
Are strong as iron bands." 

Questions. 

1. Besides making a muscle strong, what else does vigorous exercise 
do for it ? 

2. Why need girls not fear that exercises such as those described here 
will make their muscles too hard ? 

3. To make muscles really hard, how long would you have to exercise 
each day ? 

4. How many hours daily does the blacksmith often swing his sledge- 
hammer ? 

5. How does his arm feel, soft or hard ? 

6. Name another class of mechanics, besides blacksmiths, who have 
hard arms. 

7. Confine a blacksmith to his bed for weeks, by accident or sickness, 
and what happens to his arms ? 

8. And when he gets back at work again, what soon happens to his 
arms ? 

2 



26 SOUND BODIES FOR OUK BOYS AND GIRLS. 

SECTION XIII. 

FIEM, NOT HARD, MUSCLES. 

Now, some of this firmness of muscle every girl wants, every 
woman wants, either for vigorous health and useful strength 
in the ordinary matters of life, or, if she have no higher motive, 
then simply for pretty arms and figure. For, if she will look 
at a portrait or statue of any of the famous beauties of the 
past, or of the ideals of mythology, she wiH see that there 
was nothing weak or limp-looking about them, nor were they 
often very fleshy, but that they at once convey the idea of 
hale, erect, well-knit people, who scarcely knew what sickness 
meant. And she will notice the same thing in a thoroughly 
well - formed and shapely woman to-day. Were it possible, 
and should she try one of them at horseback riding, walking, 
skating, tennis, or other vigorous out-door exercise, she would 
very likely find that she would not only get tired before they 
did, but also that her face would look more weary than 
theirs. And for the excellent reason that such women as 
these would be really stronger and more enduring than she, 
and less liable to be sick. 

The children of strong and robust people, and often their 
grandchildren as well, inherit their fine vigor, blooming health, 
and well-made body and limbs. " The women of beauty and 
genius," says Emerson, " are the children or grandchildren of 
farmers, and are spending the energies which their father's 
hardy, silent life accumulated in frosty furrows, in poverty, 
necessity, and darkness." 

It will be seen, then, that we are not seeking the hardness 
of muscle which hard labor all day long brings, but only the 
firmness of muscle which comes from some vigorous exercise, 
taken for only a little while daily, but taken almost as regular- 



THE AEM. 27 

ly and as surely as we take our meals. This will do much 
to insure good health and a vigorous, hearty body, which, 
when care and in-door life come in later years, will be very 
useful to us, will keep away many a sickness, and will help 
us to bear well whatever trying or unpleasant things may 
befall us. 

Questions. 

1. Why does every girl, and every woman, want some of this firmness 
of muscle ? 

2. Which will be likely to be the more easily tired by horseback riding, 
tennis, or other vigorous exercise, a girl whose muscles are soft, or one 
whose muscles are firm, and her frame well-knit ? 

3. Why? 

4. What advantage have the children of strong and robust people ? 

5. What does Emerson say about such people ? 

6. What effect does vigorous daily exercise have besides making the 
muscles firm ? 

7. When will good health and a vigorous and hearty body prove very 
useful to us ? 



SECTION XIV. 

A HOME BAE.— FOTJETH BICEPS EXEKCISE, OE PULLINa TTP. 

Before leaving the famous biceps muscle — the one so popu- 
lar in the arm of a strong man, and so handsome in the arm 
of a comely woman — let us notice one other simple exercise, 
not for the school-room, but for home use, which will help 
make this muscle strong and well -shaped. It will need a 
small piece of apparatus that may be made thus : 

From a hard-wood board an inch thick cut four pieces of 
the shape and size shown in Fig. 8. The carpenter calls these 
" cleats." Screw two of them on the jambs of the door of 
your room at home, and up about as high as you can easily 
reach, and two more level with your shoulders. 

Take an old pitchfork-handle, or buy a new one at the hard- 



28 



SOUND BODIES FOE OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 




< 



Fig. 



ware store for a few cents. Cut it just long enough to fit 
easily into the two cleats, and make the ends square, so that 
it will not turn around in the cleats. I^ow you have a good 
horizontal bar, all ready for use. 



THE ARM. 



29 



Directions.— 1. Stand under the 
bar. 

2. Grasp it with both hands, as 
in Fig. 9. 

3. Tip your head back, and hold 
it there. 

4. JiTow try to pull up slowly till 
your chin touches the bar, as in 
Fig. 5, page 20. 

Well, some of you can do it. 
But more can not. N^ever mind 
that. Now do this : 

1 . Catch hold of the bar as before. 

2. This time give a little spring, 
and put your chin over the bar, as 
in Fig. 5. 

3. Hold yourself so, long enough 
to take a good, full breath. 

4. Now lower yourself just as 
slowly as you can, until your- feet 
touch the floor. 

5. Rest a minute. 

6. Now jump up again, and place 
your chin on the 'bar ; then lower again very slowly. 

Do this twice daily the first week. And four times daily 
the second week. 

For this calls into action the same muscles as pulling up 
does, and is making them stronger all the time. 




Fig. 9. 



Questions. 

1. Tell how a good horizontal bar can be fitted up cheaply at youi* 
home. 

2. On what apparatus can you practise the Fourth Biceps Exercise ? 

3. Describe this exercise. 



30 SOUND BODIES FOK OUE BOYS AND GIKLS. 

4. Give anottier name for it. 

5. If you cannot lift your whole weight by your hands and arms until 
your chin touches the bar, what is a good exercise to try instead ? 

6. How long should you thus hold your chin on the bar before you 
begin to lower yourself towards the floor ? 

7. How fast should you thus lower ? 

8. How far down should you go ? 

9. How many times daily should this be done the first week ? 

10. How many each day the second week ? 

11. What muscles does this call into action ? 

12. With what effect ? 



SECTION xy. 

PULLING UP CONTINUED. 



Early in the third week, instead of springing up to the bar, 
try now to pull yourself up once from the floor until your 
chin touches the bar. Yery likely you will find that now 
you can do it once. But, if not, then return to the springing 
up, and practise that five times each day through the third 
week. 

By the fourth week you will be nearly sure to find that you 
can at last pull yourself up slowly once, till your chin touches 
the bar. 

If so, then pull up once daily for a week. Twice daily the 
second week ; and as many at a time each day after that as 
you comfortably can. This is great work for your biceps 
muscles. 

By-and-by, if you keep faithfully at it for only a minute or 
two a day, you need not be surprised if you can pull up in 
this way eight or ten times without stopping. 

A really strong and athletic boy or man will sometimes pull 
up twenty or twenty-five times without great effort. 

The writer once saw a class of twenty or more girls, from 



THE ARM. 31 

eight to eighteen years of age, only one or two of whom could 
pull up in this way even once at first. Yet, by following ex- 
actly the plan described above, of practising springing up to 
the bar, holding the chin over it for a moment, and then slow- 
ly lowering the body till the feet were again on the floor, and 
repeating this only a few times each day, many of them be- 
came able, in six or eight weeks, to pull up slowly and fairly 
four or five times. 

Many well-known exercises give the useful biceps plenty to 
do, such as 

1. Hammering nails. 

2. Chopping wood. 

3. Shovelling. 

4. Sawing wood. 

5. Carrying a child, a loaded basket, or other weight on the^ 

arm. 

6. Lifting a heavy weight high off the ground with one hand oi 

both. 

7. Going up a rope hand-over-hand. 

8. Carrying a pail of water, hod of coal, a full valise, or other 

heavy weight in the hand. 

9. Holding a dumb-bell, rifle, or other weight out at arm's-length. 

10. Fencing. 

11. Single stick, 

12. Lawn-tennis. 

13. Underhand or overhand bowling, 

14. Arm- work on the trapeze. 

Almost any of these, practised vigorously half an hour a 
day after a month of lighter work, will be found to make the 
biceps muscles large and strong. 

Questions. 

1. What should be tried early in the third week ? 

2. If you cannot yet pull up fairly once, then how many times should 
you practise the Fourth Biceps Exercise each day after the second week ? 



32 SOUND BODIES FOR OUK BOYS AND GIKLS. 

3. If, by the fourth week, you can pull up once, then how many times 
each day that week should you try thus to pull up ? 

4. How many daily the week after that ? 

5. How many daily after that ? 

6. What muscles of the arm is this exercise good for ? 

7. How many such pulls may you expect to be able by-and-by to do, 
if you practise this exercise faithfully ? 

8. How many such pulls are very strong boys and men sometimes able 
to do? 

9. State what a class of girls accomplished, after six weeks of practising 
this exercise only a minute or two each day. 

10. Kame many exercises all of which set the biceps at work. 

11. What sort of lifting calls the biceps into action ? 

12. What sort of carrying also ? 

13. What kind of work should be first practised before these are tried ? 



REVIEW. 

1. What does raising a weight in your right hand to your shoulder do 
to the front of your upper right arm ? 

2. What do you call the muscle on this part of your arm ? 

3. When you bend your arm at your elbow, what muscle do you use ? 

4. When you lift a weight to your shoulder with either arm, what 
effect does it have on the back of the upper-arm ? 

5'. What on the biceps muscle ? 

6. Which part of the arm, then, does this exercise develop ? 

7. How should you breathe during the First Biceps Exercise ? 

8. How do men used to lifting heavy weights breathe when they lift ? 

9. What else can you do better with full lungs than when they are only 
partially full ? 

10. When are you stronger, with them full or partly full ? 

11. How many times daily, the first week, should you curl the dumb- 
bells in each hand ? 

12. How many each day after the second week ? 

13. Have most school boys and girls strong arms ? 

14. Give a proof of this. 

15. How many such pulls can any one with thoroughly strong arms do? 



THE ARM. 33 

16. Besides helping to make our arms useful, what other good results 
may we expect from these arm exercises ? 

17. Describe Hand Curling. 

18. After the second week, how many times should this exercise be 
practised with each hand ?. 

19. Where can it be practised ? 

20. Describe Double Curling. 

21. How should the hands be held in this exercise ? 

22. Name some advantages of this exercise. 

23. Besides making muscles strong, what else does vigorous exercise 
do for them ? 

24. Why need girls not fear that these exercises will harden their 
muscles too much ? 

25. To make muscles really hard, how long would they have to be 
exercised daily ? 

26. When a blacksmith, or other strong man, is confined to his bed by 
sickness, what happens to his muscles ? 

27. What happens to them when he gets back to his work again ? 

28. Why does every girl and woman want some of this firmness of 
muscle ? 

29. Which will tire the more easily at tennis, horseback riding, or 
other vigorous exercise, the girl whose muscles are soft, or the one whose 
muscles are firm, and her frame weU-knit ? 

30. What advantage have the children of strong and robust people ? 

31. What does Emerson say about such people ? 

32. Besides making muscles firm, name another effect of vigorous daily 
exercise. 

33. When will good health, and vigorous, hearty bodies prove very 
useful to us ? 

34. How can you fit up a good horizontal bar cheaply at home ? 

35. Describe Pulling up. 

36. If you are not strong enough at first to pull up, what is a good 
exercise to try beforehand ? 

37. What muscles does this exercise call into action ? 

38. How many such pulls are strong boys and men sometimes able to do ? 

39. State what a class of girls accomplished in six weeks, after practis- 
ing this exercise only a minute or two each day. 

40. Name as many other exercises as you can which set the biceps 
muscle at work. 

2* 



34 SOUND BODIES FOE OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

SECTION XVI. 

THE BACK-AEM. 

We have thus far been making our fore-arms strong. Also 
our biceps muscles, or the fronts of our upper-arms. 

One part of the arm remains, namely, the back of the upper- 
arm. Let us call it the hack-arm. 

Here lie some of the muscles with which we push. Also 
some of those with which we pull, whenever we draw our 
elbow back past our side. 

If the hack-arm is not of good size, any arm, when the elhow 
is not hent, is almost sm'e to look slim, no matter how large the 
hiceps muscle is. 

For the biceps muscle only looks large when the elbow is 
bent ; but when it is straight, this muscle draws out long, and 
is seldom thick. On the other hand, good, full back-arms will 
never look slim, no matter how they are held. 

Again, if the back-arm is small and the fore-arm large, as is 
often the case with painters, and men who use their fore-arms 
and wrists a great deal, the arm will look ungainly and badly 
proportioned, mainly because it is thus slim in the upper arm, 
where it should be of good size and full. 

Any one, then, who wants to change a slim and weak-looking 
arm into a full and strong one, must, besides using his fore- 
arm and biceps, do plenty of back-arm work, and keep at it 
daily for months. 

Kone of the exercises for the fore-arm, or for the biceps 
muscle, except some of those named on page 31, have given 
the back-arm much to do. So, then, let us set it at work. 

Questions. 

1. What is that part of the upper -arm which does not include the 
biceps called ? 

2. What do we do with the muscles of the back-arm ? 



THE ABM. 



35 



3. If tlie back-arm is not of good size, how will the upper arm general- 
ly look, if the elbow is not bent, no matter how large the biceps may be ? 

4. If the back-arm is of good size, will the whole arm ever look slim ? 

5. How will a small back-arm and a large fore-arm cause the whole 
arm to look ? 

6. Why ? 

7. To change a slim and weak-looking arm to a full and strong one, 
what must its owner do ? 



SECTION XVII. 



FIRST BACK-AKM EXERCISE. 



Directions. — 1. Stand 
about two feet from the side 
of the room, facing the wall, 
each pupil being three or 
more feet from the next one. 

2. Keep your heels to- 
gether. 

3. Turn your toes a little 
outward. 

4. Put your hands against 
the wall as high as your 
shoulders, as in Fig. 10. 

5. Turn your chin upward. 

6. Breathe a deep, full 
breath, and hold the air in, 
by not letting it out through 
your mouth or nose. 

7. Without taking your 
hands off the wall, bend 
your elbows, and fall slow- 
ly forward, till your chest 
touches the wall. 




Pig. 10. 



36 SOUND BODIES FOE OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

8. Keep your heels down firm on the floor all the time. 

9. Hold the body and legs always straight and stiff. 

10. Now push slowly back again, till your arms are straight, 
and you are nearly erect, as in Fig. 10. 

11. Also let the breath out through your mouth or nostrils 
as you go back. Drop slowly forward again, taking care to 
breathe the deep breath, and to hold it in when you start, and 
to keep your chin up. 

12. Touch your chest to the wall again, as before, facing 
the ceiling. 

13. Repeat this exercise five times, without stopping. 

That is enough for the first day. Should you keep on until 
you get so tired that you can push no more, you will find, on 
waking next morning, that some of your muscles are lame and 
aching from so much of this exercise, to which you are not ac- 
customed. But you will also find that about the only part of 
your arm which aches will be this very back-arm, although it 
tells somewhat on the inner side of the fore - arm, where it 
comes nearest to the body. This aching shows lohat part has 
been in action. 

But there is no need of keeping at it so long as to make 
you ache. It will be far better to start off with just a few 
times at first, and gradually increase the number as your back- 
arms get used to the work, and also get stronger, as they will 
every day, for it is the sensible use of muscles which makes 
them strong. 

Push, then, against the wall, as in Fig. 1 0, only five times a 
day the first week. Each day the second week push in this 
way ten times, and each day after that twenty times. 

Besides doing it these few times each day in school, if you 
will do it as many more at home — say, just as you get up in 
the morning, and again shortly before retiring at night — you 



THE AEM. SI 

will find that your back -arms will soon become larger and 
better-shaped. 

And pushing thus against the wall has been doing you 
another good, besides improving your back- arms, which we 
will look into presently. 

In this exercise, though the back-arms have been active, the 
weight of the body has rested mainly on the feet and legs. 

After practising these pushes against the wall till you can 

do fifty or more with ease, you will be ready for something a 

little harder. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the First Back-arm Exercise. 

2. How should the chin be held during this exercise ? 

3. How should the heels be kept ? 

4. How should the body and legs be held ? 

5. What is the right way to breathe during this exercise ? 

6. How many times daily should the movement be practised the first 
week ? 

7. If you do it too many times at first what part of your arms will get 
lame and ache ? 

8. What does this aching show ? 

9. How many of these pushes should be taken each day the second week? 

10. After that, how many daily right along ? 

11. Ji, besides this work in school, you do as much more each morning 
and evening at home, what effect will it have on your back-arms ? 

12. During this back-arm exercise, on what parts has the weight of the 
body chiefly rested ?' 

SECTION xym. 

SECOND BACK-AEM EXERCISE. 

Directions. — 1. Place two chairs about two feet apart. 

2. Stand about three feet from them, and place one hand on 
each chair. 

3. Step back one or two steps, keeping your hands on the 
chairs. 



38 



SOUND BODIES FOB OUE BOYS AND GIBLS. 



4. Bend the elbows gradually, and lower yourself gently, till 
the face is down nearly level with the hands, as in Fig. 11. 

5. Keep the head well up. 

6. Hold the body and legs always stiff and straight. 
1. N'ow push up until your elbows are straight again. 
8. Repeat this five times. 




Fig. 11. 



At first it will not be easy for you to keep the body and legs 
straight, because some of the muscles which would help hold 
them so are not yet made strong. But by a little practice of 
this movement these muscles soon get more strength, and in a 
few weeks you can hold yourself as stiff in this way as any one. 

The first week, then, bend down in this way only five times 
each day, without stopping. Each day the second week do 
this exercise eight times. And each day the third week, ten. 
And daily, right along after that, do as many as you can with 
comfort. 

This exercise is much harder than it was to push against 



THE AEM. 39 

the wall, as in the First Back- arm Exercise, for, as you see at' 
a glance, and as you feel by trying it, this brings nearly half 
the weight on the hands and arms. And the parts of the arms 
which do most of the lifting, when you thus raise and lower 
nearly half of your body, are the back-arms. 

When you get so that you can push in this way fifty times 
without difficulty, you will find that your back-arms are get- 
ting to be of pretty good size, and that they look better than 
they did a while ago ; indeed, that the whole arm seems larger 
and better shaped than before — as it really is. 

Thus far we have been getting our back-arms strong, with- 
out any tools in our hands — nothing but a floor or the ground 
to stand on, a wall to push against, and two chairs or desks 
to rest on. We have also been pushing our hands out direct- 
ly in front of us. But now let us remember one thing, that 
whenever we push any weight or anything else with our hands, 
whether in front of us, at our sides, or above our heads, not 
our biceps muscles, but our back-arms are at once busy, and do 
much of the work. 

Let us, then, have one or two back-arm exercises with the 
dumb-bells. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Second Back-arm Exercise. 

3. How should the body be held during this exercise ? 

3. Why is it not easy for some persons to keep the body and legs straight 
throughout this exercise ? 

4. How is this weakness soon remedied ? 

5. How many times daily the first week will it be enough to practise 
the Second Back-arm Exercise ? 

6. Why not more times ? » 

7. How many times daily the second week ? 

8. How many the third week ? 

9. How many right along after that ? 

10. Why is the Second Back-arm Exercise much harder than the First 
Back-arm Exercise ? 



40 



SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



11. What parts do most of the lifting in this exercise ? 

12. When you can thus raise yourseK fifty times without stopping, 
what effect may you expect on the size and looks of your arms ? 

13. Whenever we push with our hands in any direction, what part of 
the arm is at once set to work ? 



SECTION XIX. 

THIRD BACK-ARM EXERCISE, OR PUTTING UP ONE DUMB-BELL. 

Directions. — 1. Take your dumb-bell in your right band. 

2. Stand erect, witb left arm akimbo. 

3. Hold tbe chin up. 

4. Breathe a full, deep breath, and 
hold it till you begin to lower the 
bell. 

5. Now curl the bell. Of course this 
brings it in front of your shoulder, and 
works your right biceps muscle. 

6. But now push the bell slowly and 
steadily straight upward, until it is as 
high up as you can reach, as in Fig. 12. 

Y. Hold it there till you count ten. 

8. Now slowly let your breath out 
through your nose. 

9. At the same time, lower the bell 
easily to your right shoulder. Hold it 
there a moment. Then push it slowly 
up again, breathing as before. Then 
lower it again. Do not bend the knees, 
or let the body lean over. 

10. Repeat this six times. 
Then lay the bell on the floor, and rest 

for about a minute. While thus waiting, 
j,j^ ^2 ^^ two things. First, keep your chin up 




THE AEM. 41 

higli ; second, breathe as slowly and deeply as you can. In 
this way you will find that you will get rested far quicker 
than you would if you stood or sat in some slouchy position, 
letting your chest sink in, and breathing rapidly. 

Now take the dumb-bell in your left hand, curl it, then 
push it straight up over your left shoulder as high as you 
can. Hold the dumb-bell up there till you slowly count ten, 
let your breath out as before, and lower the dumb-bell slowly 
to your left shoulder. Repeat this six times. Then lay the 
dumb-bell on the floor, and rest as before. 

That is enough of this exercise the first day, and each day 
the first week. The second week, do the same thing ten times 
a day with each hand, without stopping. After the second 
week, do it fifteen times a day with each hand. 

This is a good, sensible exercise, and it also makes you strong 
in some other parts as well as in your back-arm, which we will 
consider later on. 

Besides practising this exercise in school with the others, it 
is handy work to do at home for a minute or two at rising, 
and just before retiring. 

Questions. 

1. How should you put up a dumb-bell ? 

2. Should you push the dumb-bell up slowly or quickly in this exercise ? 

3. How should you breathe while practising this exercise ? 

4. How many times should you practise it the first day with your right 
arm? 

5. How long, and in what way, should you rest after this, before doing 
the same with your left arm ? 

6. How should you hold your body during this exercise ? 

7. How long should the dumb-bell be held overhead before you lower it ? 

8. How many times daily the first week should this be practised with 
each hand ? 

9. How many the second week ? 

10. How many times each day after that ? 



42 



SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



SECTION XX. 



FOURTH BACK-ARM EXERCISE, OR PUTTING UP BOTH DUMB-BELLS. 

Directions. — 1. This time take, not one dumb-bell only, but 
both of them, one in each hand. 

2. Stand erect as before. 

3. Hold the chin well up. 

4. Breathe and hold a full, deep breath, until you begin to 
lower the dumb-bells. 

5. Now curl them. 

6. l^ext push them both straight up- 
ward together, as high as you can — the 
right one nearly over the right shoulder, 
the left one nearly over the left shoulder, 
as in Fig. 13. 

7. Hold them up there till you count 
five. 

8. Now lower them till they are level 
with your ears. 

9. Keep the chin all the time held up 
high. 

Each day the first week repeat this 
exercise five times without stopping. 
The second week do it eight times 
daily. After that do it ten times each 
day right along. 

Now for the hardest back-arm work 
yet — work which the pupil should not 
attempt till the Fourth Back-arm Exer- 
cise can be done easily twenty times 
Fig. 13. without resting. 




THE ARM. 



43 



Questions. 

1. How should you put up two dumb-bells ? 

2. How does this differ from the Third Back-arm Exercise V 

3. How high should you put the dumb-bells in this exercise ? 

4 How many times should it be practised each day the first week ? 

5. How many daily the second week ? 

6. How many each day after that ? 

7. How many times should you be able to practise the Fourth Back- 
arm Exercise without resting before you try the Fifth ? 



SECTION XXI. 



FIFTH BACK -ARM EXERCISE, OK DIPPING. 

Directions. — 1. Stand in tlie aisle between two desks not 
over two feet apart. (It would be better for this exercise to 
have them only about sixteen inches apart.) 

2. Place one hand on each desk, 
and stand erect. 

3. Hold the chin np as high as 
you can. 

4. Breathe a deep, full breath, 
and hold it, keeping the lips 
shut. 

5. ^N'ow lift your feet off the 
floor, and lower yourself slowly, 
by bending your elbows, until 
your knees nearly touch the floor, 
as in Fig. 14. 

6. Then push slowly up until 
your arms are straight again. 

Y. Keep your chin up high all 
the time. Fig. 14. 




44 SOUND BODIES FOK OUR BOYS AND GIELS. 

Not one boy in five, not one girl in twenty-five, can do this 
once. Yet whoever cannot do it at least three times has 
rather weak back-arms. 

But these are just the ones who need plenty of work for 
their back -arms, until they get them of good size and 
strong. 

Remember that because a back-arm, or any other part of 
the arm, is large, is no sign that it is strong ; simply because 
the muscles may be both soft and fat, and soft and fat people 
are seldom strong. It is the quality, the firm, good fibre, as 
well as the size, that you want, in order to have strong, useful 
arms. And to have them well shaped, each part of them must 
be Well developed, instead of only some parts. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Fifth Back-arm Exercise, or Dipping. 

2. How should you breathe during this exercise ? 

3. Should you push slowly or quickly ? 

4. How many times can most boys and girls do this exercise ? 

5. What kind of back-arms has one who cannot do it at least three 
times ? 

6. What do such boys and girls need ? If the back-arm, or any other 
part of the arm, is large, is it necessarily strong also ? 

7. Why not? 

8. What else do you want besides size, to have strong, useful arms ? 

9. What is necessary to have well-shaped ones also ? 



SECTION xxn. 

MORE ABOUT DIPPING. 



This exercise we are at is called by gymnasts dipping — a 
good name to remember it by; for, of course, in doing it, you 
dip your body down between your arms. The reason it is 



THE AEM. 45 

harder than any of the previous back-arm exercises is plain. 
In each of the others your back-arms and hands either had to 
hold up only a part of the weight of your body, or else a pair 
of small dumb - bells. But, in dipping, your back-arms and 
hands have to hold up almost the whole weight of your body. 
Other muscles help, as will be seen shortly, but the back-arms 
do a large share of the work. 

Dipping is one of the best exercises known for making the hack- 
arms strong and handsome. Most men who think themselves 
strong, and really are so, but only in certain muscles, have not 
strong back-arms. They cannot do even a dozen dips. The 
writer, in 1879, saw Hanlan, the famous oarsman, try to do a 
few dips. Although very powerful in the muscles he rowed 
with, yet when at first he dipped down till his knees touched 
the fioor, he actually could not raise up once. A few months 
after we saw him try again. He dipped fairly twice. At the 
third dip he got down till his elbows were bent, but could 
scarcely straighten up again at all, and stopped. And yet this 
same Hanlan is one of the greatest rowers the world ever pro- 
duced — indeed, was long the champion oarsman of the world. 
And in the muscles most used in rowing — those of the loins, 
the broad of the back, the abdominal muscles, and those of the 
fore-arms, the front of the thighs, and of the calves — he is a 
very strong man.. But he simply has not strong back- arms, 
nor do they look either large or strong. In fact, his upper- 
arm doubled up, that is, with the fist drawn up in front of the 
shoulder, measured only thirteen inches in girth, while a thor- 
oughly well-built, strong man as tall as he — about five feet 
eight inches — ought to measure over fourteen inches around 
the upper-arm when it is doubled up, and should be able to do 
with ease quite a number of dips — ^^at least twenty. Now and 
then you will see some strong, active boy or man who can do 
twenty-five or thirty dips. 



46 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Questions. 

1. What is the Fifth Back-arm Exercise called by gymnasts ? 

2. Why is it so called ? 

3. Why is it harder than any of the other four back-arm exercises ? 

4. Do other muscles besides those of your back-arms help bear your 
weight in dipping ? 

5. How does dipping affect the back-arms ? 

6. Do most men who are strong have strong back-arms ? 

7. Can such men do many dips ? 

8. Name a famous oarsman who is an example of this. 

9. How many dips could he do at first ? 

10. How many a few months later ? 

11. In what muscles is he strong ? 

12. What kind of back-arms has he ? 

13. What does he measure about the upper - arm when it is doubled 
up? 

14. What should a strong man of his height measure ? 

15. How many dips ought such a man to be able to do ? 



SECTION XXIII. 

DIPPING — CONCLUDED. 



A gentleman in New York, with whom we are acquainted 
— ■■& middle-aged man, five feet ten inches in height, and 
weighing at least a hundred and ninety pounds — has dipped 
not merely twenty-five or thirty times, but eighty-four times, 
without stopping — an extremely hard piece of work. And 
he has simply magnificent back-arms (as will be seen in the 
picture of him. Fig. 15), being sixteen inches in girth, or three 
more than Hanlan's — arms which look well either in rowing 
or exercising costume, that is, with nothing on them, or which 
set off a well-cut coat to great advantage. 

And, by the way, which will look better in any man or 
woman, boy or girl, who wears a garment with snugly fitting 
sleeves — well-built, shapely arms, or half-built, spindling ones ? 



THE AEM. 



47 




Ko one who can do a large number of dips, say fifty or 
more, can fail to have strong and good-sized back-arms And 
for the reason that it takes very strong and fine back-arms to 
lift the body in this way so many times. 

We have seen, page 43, how to dip. Now let us do a little 
of this work. Dip slowly and fairly once each day the first 
week ; twice each day the second week ; after that, five times 
daily without stopping. But if you find this number still too 
great, then dip as many times as you can; 



48 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Of course, if there are parallel bars in the school-room, they 
will be handier for dipping than the desks. Indeed, that is 
one of their chief uses. 

It will be a good plan to get the carpenter to make you (or 
else make them yourself) a pair of little bars for home use, as 
in Fig. 8, page 28. The foot-note will tell him just how to 
make them to suit you.* 

Now, on these handy bars at home, you can try a few dips 
at rising, and again just before retiring, thus adding to the 
good you have done your back-arms in the school exercise, 
and doing much to increase their size and strength. 

Questions. 

1. State how many dips one gentleman was able to do. 

2. What sort of back-arms has he ? 

3. Which look better in any one who wears a snugly fitting garment, 
well-built and shapely arms, or half -built ones ? 

4. What kind of back-arms will one have who can do fifty or more dips? 

5. Why so? 

6. What exceptions are there to this ? 

7. How many times a day the first week should you dip ? 

8. How many times daily the second week ? 

9. How many daily after that ? 

10. What are better than desks on which to practise dipping ? 

11. Tell how to make a simple pair of these bars for home use. 
13. When can these bars be conveniently used ? 

13. With what result ? 

* Bore into each jamb of the bedroom door, about the height of the 
waist, a hole as large as the bar is thick. Now work the auger farther 
into each hole, till you get it an inch or more into the first piece of stud- 
ding. Cut a pitchfork-handle in halves, pass one half through the hole 
in one jamb, and into its nearest studding-piece. Pass the other half 
through the other hole, and into its studding-piece. Cut enough off each 
piece of the handle to leave the distance between the two about seven- 
teen inches. Now you have a pair of bars on which you can try one of 
the exercises usually practised on the parallel bars — namely, dipping — 
and that one worth almost as much as all the rest. 



THE ARM. 49 



SECTION XXIV. 

YAEIETY OF BACK-AEM EXERCISES. 

We have thus given a few exercises for the back-arms. 
They are quite enough, though, if practised even two minutes 
daily, to tell very favorably on the size and shape of the back- 
arms long before a year is out. 

There are many other exercises that every boy or girl would 
do well to know, and which, if practised a little daily, and pa- 
tiently, will help develop fine back-arms. Such are 

1. Standing with your back to the chest- weights in the gymna- 

sium, and pushing tlie handles outward. 

2. Pushing them upward. 

3. Boxing. 

4. Striking a sawdust-bag, as boxers do. 

5. Pushing a barrel or other heavy article forward, as into a wagon. 

6. Pushing up from the floor until the arms are straight, as in 

Fig. 16, page 50, and then bending the elbow and slowly 
lowering the face till it is near the floor, keeping the body 
and legs stiff. This is a grand home exercise. 

7. If you want to make this a little more exciting, try to clap your 

hands just as your elbows are straight, and before you begin 
to dip. It is well to do this with care, otherwise an India- 
rubber nose may prove useful. 

8. Going through the parallel bars with your arms straight, either 

forward or backward, or with your arms bent ; indeed, in 
almost any way at all, for one of the chief uses of parallel 
bars is to strengthen and develop the back-arms. 

9. Turmng hand -springs. 

10. Or cart-wheels. 

11. "Putting the shot." , 

12. Standing erect, falling face forward to the floor, but really 

catching yourself on your hands, the body being all the time 
held rigidly straight. 

13. Sawing wood. 

14. Mowing with a lawn-mower. 

3 



60 



SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 





Fig. 16. 



15. Sword exercise. 

16. Walking on your hands. 

17. Pushing a dumb-bell or any other weight up over your head 

until your arms are straight, or nearly so. 

18. Anything, in short, with which you push vigorously, with one 

hand or both, in front of you, over your head, or at your 
side, and either with or without a weight in your hand. 

Qnestions. 

1. What will be the effect of the few back-arm exercises already given, 
if they are practised even two minutes daily ? 

2. Are there other back-arm exercises ? 

3. How should they be practised ? 

4. Name as many other back-arm exercises as you can. 

5. How do you do the exercise shown in Fig. 16 ? 

6. Name one of the chief uses of parallel bars. 

7. What kind of pushing calls the back-arm into action ? 



THE ARM. 



51 



SECTION xxy. 

FIEST INNER BACK-ARM EXERCISE. 

Before leaving the back-arm, we will have one or two exer- 
cises for the inner side of it, because this part is not brought 
much into play in the above back-arm work. 

Directions. — 1. Stand beside your desk. 

2. Hold the chin up high. 

3. Place your right hand on the for- 
ward corner of the desk next you. 

4. Press hard against the desk with 
3^our hand, as though trying to pull 
the desk backward. 

5. As you pull, put your left hand 
on that part of your upper-arm next to 
your body, as in Fig. 17. 

Before you begin to pull, this part of 
your upper-arm will feel soft ; but the 
moment you pull, it hardens at once, 
and feels firmer the harder you pull. 

So we have one exercise that sets 
the inner side of the back -arm at 
work, and that not a pushing exercise, 
but a pulling one ; for whenever you 
reach your hand out in front of you, 
and bear downward — either lightly, as 
in playing a piano, or heavily, as in 
striking a downward blow — or draw 
your elbow back past your side, as in 
rowing, or in driving a horse, you at 
once set this part of the arm at work. You also use important 
muscles on your back and shoulders, as we shall see further on. 




Fig. 17. 



52 



SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIELS. 



Questions. 

1. What part of the back-arm needs other work than pushing, in order 
to make it strong and of good size ? 

2. Describe a simple exercise for the inner side of the back-arm. 

3. What part of your back-arm is brought into action when you reach 
your hand out in front of you and bend down forward, as in piano-playing? 

4. Name other kinds of work for this part of the arm. 

5. What other muscles do these exercises set at work ? 



SECTION XXVI. 

SECOND INNER BACK-ARM EXERCISE. 




Fig. 18. 



Directions. — 1. Stand 
erect, with a dumb-bell 
in each hand, letting 
them hang down at your 
sides. 

. 2. Breathe a full, deep 
breath, and hold it in, 
keeping the lips shut. 

3. Now slowly raise the 
dumb-bells up behind you, 
until your arms point- out 
backward, as in Fig. 18. 

4. Do not bend your 
elbows at all. 

5. Keep the finger-nails 
upward, and the backs of 
the hands downward. 

6. Hold the dumb-bells 
up back of you in this 
way till you count five, 
holding your breath in 
all the time. 



THE ARM. 



53 



V. Now gradually lower them to your sides again, at the 
same time slowly letting out your breath. 

8. Do it again just as before, breathing in the same way, 
and taking care, when you get the dumb-bells up high behind 
you, to hold them there until you slowly count five. 



Repeat this five times each day the first week, eight times 
daily the second week, and twelve each day after that. 

This also is an excellent exercise to try at home for a few 
strokes each morning and evening. It can be varied by lean- 
ing forward, as in Fig. 19. 

This inner part of the 
upper -arm is not only 
vigorously used in row- 
ing, but it is the only 
part of the upper -arm 
which rowing takes 
much hold of at all, 
leaving the biceps al- 
most idle, and doing 
but little for the main 
part of the back -arm. 
Hence, you will often 
see famous oarsmen 
with poor and slim up- 
per-arms, even two or 
three inches smaller 
than they ought to be. 

Thus we have taken 
the four parts of the 
arm, 

a, the fore-arm, 

h, the biceps muscle, 




Fig. .19. 



c, the back-arm, 

d, the toner side of the back-arm ; 



54 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

and we have singled out a few exercises for each part, many of 
them with no apparatus at all, easy to learn, and taking but a 
little time each day. Yet, practise them that little time each 
day — vigorously, of course ; for it does not pay to exercise in 
any other way — and before the end of a year you will find 
that your arm is quite a different arm, and a different-look- 
ing arm, and a much better-looking arm than it was when you 
began. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Second Inner Back-arm Exercise. 

2. How should you breathe during this exercise ? 

3. How should the elbows be held ? 

4. How long should the dumb-bells be held up behind you ? 

5. How many times should this be done each day the first week ? 

6. How many daily the second week ? 

7. How many right along after that ? 

8. How can this exercise be varied ? 

9. How much of the upper-arm does rowing call into play ? 

10. "What kind of upper-arms do even famous oarsmen often have ? 

11. Kame the parts of the arm. 

12. State what has been singled out thus far for each part. 

13. How long will these exercises require each day ? 

14. How should they be practised ? 

15. What will you find before the end of a year ? 



REVIEW. 

1. What part of the arm do we call the back-arm ? 

2. What do we do with the muscles of the back-arm ? 

3. If they are small, how does the arm look ? 

4. If they are of good size, will the back-arm ever look slim ? 

5. How will a small back-arm and large fore-arm make the whole arm 
look? 

6. What must be done to change a slim and weak-looking arm into a 
full and strong one ? 

7. Describe the First Back-arm Exercise. 



THE AKM. 55 

8. On what parts does the weight rest during this exercise ? 

9. Describe the Second Back-arm Exercise. 

10. Why is it much harder than the First Back-arm Exercise ? 

11. What parts do most of the lifting during this exercise ? 

12. When you push with your hands in any direction, what part of the 
arms is at once set at work ? 

13. How do you do the Third Back-arm Exercise ? 

14. How does the Fourth Back-arm Exercise differ from the Third ? 

15. How high should you push the dumb-bells during this exercise ? 

16. Before trying the Fifth Back-arm Exercise, how many times should 
you be able to do the Fourth without resting ? 

17. Explain Dipping. 

18. How many times can most boys and girls do this exercise ? 

19. Should you push slowly or quickly ? 

20. What kind of back-arms has any boy or girl who cannot dip at 
least three times ? 

21. What do such boys and girls need ? 

22. If any part of the arm is large, is it necessarily strong also ? 

23. What else do you want besides size to have strong, useful arms ? 

24. What is necessary to have well-shaped ones also ? 

25. Why is dipping harder than any of the other back-arm exercises ? 

26. Can men strong in other parts, but not in their back-arms, do many 
dips? 

27. Name a famous oarsman who is an example of this ? 

28. In which muscles was he strong ? 

29. What kind of back-arms had he ? 

30. What does he measure about the upper -arm when it is doubled 
up? . 

81. What should a strong man measure ? 

32. How many dips ought such a man to be able to do ? 

33. What kind of back-arms will one have who can do fifty or more dips? 

34. Why so ? 

35. What are better than desks on which to practise dipping ? 

36. Name as many other back-arm exercises as you can. 

37. Describe a simple exercise for the inner side of the back-arm. 

38. Name other kinds of work for this part of the arm. 

39. Describe the Second Inner Back-arm Exercise. 

40. What kind of upper-arms do even famous oarsmen often have ? 



56 SOUND BODIES FOE OUB BOYS AND GIRLS. 



PART III.— THE SHOULDER. 
SECTION I. 

FIKST FEONT-SHOULDER EXERCISE. 

The arms, as we know, are not separated from the body, 
but are attached to it ; and there is little work any part of 
them can do which does not, at the same time, set some parts 
of the body at work. 

We will begin with the front of the shoulder, a part where 
few school boys or girls are nearly as full, well-shaped, and 
strong as they should be. Indeed, if you look at a class of 
forty or fifty boys in a school -room (unless it is at West 
Point), you will see at once, not only that most of them tend 
to sink in a little just at the front of each shoulder, but that 
their coats have wrinkles in them in this part, the boys have 
held their shoulders forward so much. 

Let the same boys practise a few exercises which take hold 
of them at the front of each shoulder, and also tend to draw 
their shoulders well back, which the very filling-up of these 
muscles helps much to do, and you will see that, loug be- 
fore the end of a year, these wrinkles are nearly or entirely 
smoothed out, and that their coats fit them better at the front 
of the shoulders, and look better there, than they did before. 
And in this respect the same thing is as true of girls as of 
boys. 

Let us, then, try a few exercises for the front of each 
shoulder. 



THE SHOULDEE. 



Directions. — 1. Stand with a dumb-bell in each hand. 

2. Keep the chin up. 

3. Hold the dumb-bells out in front of you, about as high 
as your waist, as in Fig. 20. 

4. Keep your elbows straight and parallel. 

5. Take a full, deep breath, 
and hold it. 

6. Now lift the dumb-bells 
slowly upward, out in front 
of you, till they are as high as 
your shoulders, as in Fig. 21, 
page 58. 

7. Hold them there till you 
count five, not bending your 
elbows. 

8. Now slowly lower them, 
at the same time gradually 
letting out your breath. 

9. Lift them up again ex- 
actly as before, and lower 
again. Do it in all four times 
without stopping. 

Do it four times each day 
the first week, seven times 
daily the second week, and 
ten times each day after that 
right along. Pig 20. 

Questions. 

1. Generally, if you set any part of the arm at work, what effect will 
it have on some part of the body ? 

2. Are most boys and girls well-shaped and full at the front of each 
shoulder ? 

3. In these parts of the body, what do most of them tend to do ? 

3* 




58 



SOUND BODIES FOE OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 




Fig. 21. 



4. What kind of exer- 
cise will help take these 
wrinkles out of the coat ? 

5. What other effect 
will these exercises have 
on the coat besides help- 
ing to take these wrin- 
kles out of it ? 

6. Describe the First 
Front - Shoulder Exer- 
cise. 

7. How should you 
hold the dumb - bells 
during this exercise ? 

8. How the arms ? 

9. How long should 
you hold the dumb-bells 
out in front of you in 
this exercise ? 

10. How should you 
breathe, also ? 

11. How many times 
daily are enough the 
first week ? 

12. How many the 
second week ? 

13. How many daily 
after that ? 



SECTION II. 

SECOND FEONT-SHOULDEE EXEECISE. 

Directions. — 1. Take a dumb-bell in each hand. 

2. Hold them straight out in front of you, about as high as 
your mouth, as in Fig. 22. 

3. Keep the elbows straight. 

4. Keep the arms parallel. 



THE SHOULDER. 



59 



5. Hold the chin up above the level. 

6. Now walk slowly up the aisle, then 
down the next aisle, and back to where 
you started, keeping the dumb-bells out 
in front of you all the way, as just de- 
scribed. 

Carry them in this way over the same 
distance once each day the first week ; 
twice each day the second week ; after 
that three times each day right along. 

Questions, 

1. Describe the Second Front - Shoulder Exer- 
cise. 

2. How should the chin be held in this exer- 
cise ? 

3. How high should you hold the dumb-bells ? 

4. How far should you walk with the dumb- 
bells thus out in front of you each day the first 
week ? 

5. How far daily the second week ? 

6. How far each day after that right along ? 




SECTION m. 

THIED FKONT-SHOULDER EXERCISE. 

Directions. — 1. Take a dumb-bell in each hand. 

2. Stand with the left foot forward about eight inches. 

3. Hold the dumb-bells ap in front of your shoulders. 

4. Hold your chin up high, and breathe your chest entirely 
full. 

5. Now strike swiftly out in front of you with your left 
hand, as in Fig. 23. 



60 



SOUND BODIES FOE, OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



6. Draw your left hand back till it is near your left shoul- 
der again. 

7. Next strike out in the same way 
with your right hand. 

8. Then draw it near your right shoul- 
der again. 

9. Now strike out again with your right 
hand, and then with your left, until you 
have struck out five times with each hand. 

Strike in this way five times daily the 
first week, eight times each day the sec- 
ond week, and ten times daily after that. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Third Front - Shoulder Exer- 
cise. 

2. Where should you place the left foot dur- 
ing this exercise ? . 

3. How should you breathe during it ? 

4. How should you strike out in this exercise ? 

5. How many such strokes should you make 
daily the first week ? 

6. How many each day the second week ? 
j,j 23. '^- How many each day after that right along ? 




SECTION IV. 

A VARIETY OF FEONT-SHOULDEE WOEK. 

You may bring this muscle at the front of the shoulder 
into active use in a large variety of ways, many of them com- 
mon in daily life. 

Whenever you put your hand up to your head, as to brush 
your hair, put on your hat or collar, or to put food into your 
mouth, at once the front of your shoulder is at work. Not 



THE SHOULDEK. 61 

vigorously, to be sure, because the weight of the brush, fork, or 
other article is but trifling, and does not call for much muscu- 
lar exertion. But if it weighed, say twenty pounds, you would 
soon find, from the way this front of the shoulder would quickly 
tire, that you were giving it hard and unusual work to do. 

1. The wood-chopper plies it lustily. 

2. The fencer more yet — that is, on his sword-arm ; for he 
not only reaches his sword-hand far out in front of him, and 
keeps it darting back and forth, but he sometimes keeps up 
this vigorous exercise for a long time without resting — the 
work, of course, telling very decidedly on such of his muscles 
as are at work. 

3. The boxer still more. 

4. The batsman uses it somewhat. 

5. The blacksmith and mason more yet. 

6. The mower with a scythe a good deal. 

7. Also the reaper. 

8. Lawn-tennis gives it some work. 

9. Croquet very little. 

10. Carrying dumb-bells or other weights out in front of 
you, either with arms straight or bent. 

Anything, in short, which gets your hands much up in front 
of you, or which keeps them there, especially with something 
heavy in them, will help you in this good work of building a 
front of the shoulder, strong, full, useful, and shapely. 

Questions. 

1. Are these front parts of the muscles of the shoulders brought into 
use in many ways in common daily life ? 

2. Mention some of these ways. 

3. Does the fencer use the front of one of his shoulders, or of both ? 
Of which one ? 

4. Which game calls the front of the shoulder the more into play— 
lawn-tennis or croquet ? 



62 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

SECTION V. 

FIRST SIDE-SHOULDER EXERCISE. 

Now let us look at an even more useful part of the shoulder 
(though of the same muscle) — the side or corner of it. 

You cannot put your hand up over your head without put- 
ting this part of your shoulder at work. And if for a little 
while, unless you are used to it, you put your hands, with no 
weight in them, high up over your head, you will find you 
are getting tired and aching here (in the side of the shoulder), 
sure proof that you are working it unusually hard. 

Let us try one or two side - shoulder exercises, such as can 
be practised readily in the school-room. 

Directions. — 1. Stand erect. 

2. Hold the chin up high. 

3. Breathe a full, deep breath. 

4. Let the air pass out slowly through your nostrils. 

5. Now take two more such breaths. 

6. Shut your fists. 

Y. Now strike sharply with your right fist straight up over 
your right shoulder. 

8. Bring it quickly down, till level with your shoulder. 

9. Then strike upward in the same way with your left fist 
over your left shoulder. 

10. Keep on in this way, first with your right hand, then 
with your left, till you have struck upward five times with 
each hand. 

Strike thus five times with each hand daily the first week, 
ten times daily the second week, and twelve times each day 
after that. 

Now you are at steady exercise for your shoulders, that 



THE SHOULDER. 63 

will make them stronger, little by little, before a year has 
gone, just as you are sure to be further on at the end of the 
year than you were at the beginning in arithmetic, geography, 
geometry, or whatever else you are studying. 

Questions. 

1. What part of the shoulder does putting your hand up over your 
head take ? 

2. Describe the First Side-shoulder Exercise. 

3. How should you breathe during this exercise ? 

4. How should you strike in this exercise ? 

5. How many times should you so strike with each fist daily the first 
week ? 

6. How many each day the second week ? 

7. And how many a day after that ? 

8. What will be the effect of this steady exercise for your shoulders 
before you have thus practised it daily even for one year ? 



SECTION VI. 

SECOND SIDE-SHOrLDEK EXERCISE. 

Directions. — 1. Stand erect. 

2. Keep the chin up very high. 

3. Breathe three slow, very full breaths. 

4. Instead of pushing up the dumb-bell first with one hand 
and then with the other, raise both at the same time, as high 
as you can. 

Why, this is the Fourth Back -arm Exercise. Certainly.. 
For you have learned that when you use any muscles of your 
back -arm, you also at once set some other parts at work. 
Well, now we are beginning to find how true this is. 

For the rest, then, of the Second Side-shoulder Exercise, 
simply repeat the Fourth Back - arm Exercise, as described 
on page 42. 



64 SOUND BODIES FOE OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

These exercises stretch and enlarge your lungs, send the 
blood more vigorously through your veins, and, for the time, 
make you stronger. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Second Side-shoulder Exercise. 

2. How should you breathe during this exercise ? 

3. Name some effects of this slow, deep breathing. 



SECTION VII. 

THIRD SIDE-SHOULDEK EXERCISE. 

Directions. — 1. Hold the dumb-bells up high over your head 
— one in each hand — and look at the ceiling directly above 
you. 

2. Slowly breathe in a large, deep breath, and hold it in, 
keeping the lips shut. 

3. Now slowly lower the dumb-bells out sideways, until 
your arms are out straight at your sides and level with your 
shoulders, as in Fig. 24. 

4. Hold them there till you slowly count five. 

5. IsTow lift them slowly upward in just the track they came 
down, never once bending your elbows. 

6. Hold them over your head a moment. 

7. Now breathe out through the nose — not through the 
mouth. 

8. Repeat this five times without stopping, keeping the chin 
up as high as you can all the time. 

This is enough for the first day, and each day the first week. 
The second week, do it seven times each day. After that ten 
times each day in school, and as many more every morning 
and evening at home. For a little smart work with any mus- 
cles, even for only one minute, mornings and evenings, helps 



THE SHOULDER. 



65 




ms. 24. 



out the school-exercises greatly/, andy in a few months^ you will 
see what a difference it will make in the size and strength of 
the muscles so used. If any one wants to get ahead even faster 
yet, a few minutes each afternoon may be spent at this work. 
As will be seen later, there is scarcely any better chest-ex- 
pander than this exercise. 



Questions. 

.1. Describe the Third Side-shoulder Exercise. 

2. How should you hold the dumb-bells during this exercise ? 

3. At what should you look ? 



66 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

4. How should you breathe ? 

5. Should you lower your hands quickly or slowly ? 

6. How many should you count while your arms are out straight at 
your sides, and before you raise them again ? 

7. How should you hold the chin in this exercise ? 

8. How many times daily should you thus lower and raise the dumb- 
bells in school during the first week ? 

9. How many times each day the second week ? 

10. How many a day after that in school ? 

11. How many daily out of school ? 

12. What is the advantage of even a little work out of school ? 



SECTION vm. 

FOURTH SIDE-SHOULDER EXERCISE. 

Directions. — 1, Hold the dumb-bells out at arm's-length at 
your sides, as in Fig. 24, page 65. 

2. Do not bend your elbows. 

3. N^ow walk slowly up the aisle, turn down the next aisle, 
and return to the place whence you started, being sure to keep 
the chin all the time turned up high. 

4. Breathe as slowly and deeply as you can all the time you 
are walking. 

Hold the dumb-bells in this way, and walk this same track 
once a day the first week. Walk it in the same way twice 
each day the second week, without stopping ; and daily, after 
that, three times, without stopping. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Fourth Side-shoulder Exercise. 

2. How should the elbows be held during this exercise ? 

3. How far should you thus walk each day the first week ? 

4. How far daily the second week ? 

5. How far after that right along ? 



THE SHOULDER. 67 

SECTION IX. 

FIFTH SIDE-SHOULDER EXEECISE. 

Directions. — 1. Hold a dumb-bell in each hand, as high over- 
head as you can. , 

2. Keep the chin up all the time, and the elbows always 
straight. 

3. breathing slow, full breaths, walk slowly up the aisle, 
down the next aisle, and back to the place from which you 
started. 

Walk the same distance in this way daily the first week, 
clear around the room daily the second week, and around it 
twice each day after that right along. 

You will now begin to find that you have muscles on the 

sides or corners of your shoulders, if you never discovered it 

before. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Fifth Side-shoulder Exercise. 

3. How liigh should the dumb-bells be held in this exercise ? 

3. Should you walk slowly or rapidly ? 

4. How far daily each week in this way ? 

5. What fact about your shoulders will this exercise show you ? 



REVIEW. 

1. If you use a part of the arm, what effect does it generally have on 
the body also ? 

2. Are most boys and girls well-shaped and full at the front of each 
shoulder ? 

3. What kind of exercise will remove these wrinkles ? 

4. Describe the First Front-shoulder Exercise. 

5. Describe the Second Front-shoulder Exercise. 

6. How far should you walk with the dumb-bells thus held out in front 
of you each day after the second week ? 



68 SOUND BODIES FOE OUR BOYS AND GIELS. 

7. Describe tlie Third Front-shoulder Exercise. 

8. How should you strike out in this case ? 

9. Mention some ways in common hfe in which the front muscles of 
the shoulders are brought into use. 

10. Does the fencer use the front of one of his shoulders, or both ? 

11. Describe the First Side-shoulder Exercise. 
13. How should you strike during this exercise ? 

13. What effect will this steady exercise for your shoulders have before 
you have been at it daily even for one year ? 

14. How do you breathe during the Second Side-shoulder Exercise ? 

15. Name some effects of this kind of breathing. 

16. Describe the Third Side-shoulder Exercise. 

17. How many times daily would it be well to practise this exercise at 
home ? 

18. What is the advantage of even a little work out of school ? 

19. How should the elbows be held during the Fourth Side-shoulder 
Exercise ? 

20. Describe the Fifth Side-shoulder Exercise. 

21. What fact will the Fifth Side-shoulder Exercise show you ? 



To Teachers. — A simple way to make the pupils sit erect is to have 
them, all the time they are in school, ffrst sit far back on the chair, and, 
secondly, hold up their chins. It would be well to have hanging on the 
wall of each school-room, as mottoes, a card reading thus : 
' ' Sit far hack on the chair. 
Hold up the chin. 
Breathe as deeply as you can." 



THE UPPER -BACK. 69 



PART IV.— THE UPPER -BACK. 
SECTION I. 

FIRST UPPER-BACK EXERCISE. 

One part of the shoulders remains — the back of them. 

You cannot put your hands behind you without using the 
muscles on the back of your shoulders ; and if you do a great 
deal of work which makes you draw your hand or elbow either 
quickly or strongly backward, you will soon make the backs 
of your shoulders strong, and very likely well -shaped also. 
Indeed, you will strengthen nearly the whole of your back 
above the waist, and make it shapely as well ; for a well-built 
and well-developed back is one of the shapeliest parts of the 
human body. Whoever has a narrow back will always seem 
to lack power — indeed, will often look weak. This upper half 
of the back is known as the broad of the hack. 

Directions. — -1. Stand erect, with the chin up high, a dumb- 
bell in each hand, and your arms straight out in front of you 
as high as your shoulders. 

2. Draw one elbow smartly backward, as in Fig. 23, page 60, 
and hold it there. 

3. Now do the same with your other elbow. 

4. Repeat this exercise ten times with each elbow. 

Do it ten times daily the first week, fifteen times a day 
during the second week, and twenty times daily kifter that 
right along. 



10 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Not only the backs of your shoulders, but the muscles of 
the middle of the back, between the shoulders, are now hard 
at work. 

Questions. 

1. If you put your hands behind you, on what part of your shoulders 
does it set the muscles at work ? 

2. How can you make the backs of your shoulders well-shaped and 
strong ? 

3. What other parts of your body will this exercise strengthen ? 

4. What effect also will this exercise have on the shape of the upper 
half of the back ? 

5. What is a narrow back likely to lack ? 

6. How will it generally look ? 

7. What is the upper half of the back called ? 

8. Describe carefully the First Upper-back Exercise. 

9. Do you need any apparatus for this exercise ? 

10. How many times daily during the first week should you thus draw 
the elbows backward ? 

11. Should the exercise be an active or a sluggish one ? 

12. How many times each day should you practise this exercise during 
the second week ? 

13. How many daily after that right along ? 



SECTION 11. 

SECOND UPPER-BACK EXERCISE. 

Directions. — 1. With a dumb-bell in each hand, and breath- 
ing slowly and very deeply, raise both hands behind you, as in 
Fig. 25. 

2. Breathe as deeply as you can, and hold your breath in 
all the time the dumb-bells are up. 

3. Keep the elbows straight, hold the head back, and be 
sure to keep the backs of your hands turned upward all the 
time you are thus raising the dumb-bells back of you. 

4. Repeat this six times. 



THE UPPER -BACK. 



71 



Raise the dumb-bells in this way six times daily the first 
week, ten times each day the second week, and as many times 
daily after that as you can with ease. 

This is fine icorkfor the hack 
of the shoulder and the whole 
upper -hack ; for holding your 
head back thus stiffly sets at 
work the back of the neck and 
the middle of the upper-back, 
and raising the dumb-bells be- 
hind you sets at work the back 
of your shoulders and all across 
the back just under your arms 
— indeed, about the whole of 
the upper-back. 

If you would like to find its 
effect on the muscles there, just 
take both dumb-bells in your 
right hand. Place your left 
hand on the back of your right 
shoulder, and on that part of 
your back nearest your right 
back - arm. Now, with your 
right hand, raise the dumb- 
bells as high behind your back 
as you can, keeping your right elbow always straight, and 
just feel how these muscles on your right shoulder and on the 
right side of your back, just behind your right arm, swell and 
harden. 

This shows in a moment that what you are doing has sud- 
denly set these muscles of the right half of the upper-back 
vigorously at work. 




Fig. 25. 



72 SOUND BODIES FOR OUE BOYS AND GIBLS. 

Qnestions. 

1. Describe the Second Upper-back Exercise. 

2. How should the elbows be held in this exercise ? 

3. How should the backs of the hands be held ? 

4. How should the head and neck be held in this exercise ? 

5. How many times should this exercise be practised the first week ? 

6. How many times daily the second week ? 

7. How many times after that right along ? 

8. What part of the neck does this exercise set at work ? 

9. "What three parts of the back ? 

10. How can you find its effect on these parts ? 

11. How does this exercise differ from the Second Inner Back-arm 
Exercise ? (See page 53. ) 



SECTION III. 

THIED UPPEE-BACK EXEECISE. 



Directions. — 1. Hold the dumb-bells straight out in front of 
you. 

2. Breathe slowly, and very, deep, full breaths. 

3. !N^ow swing the dumb-bells slowly around behind you, as 
far as you can, keeping them all the time about as high as 
your shoulders, as in Fig. 26. 

4. Do not bend your elbows at all. 

5. Hold the dumb-bells for a moment as far behind you as 
you can. 

6. !Row swing them around in front of you again, not bend- 
ing your elbows. 

7. Swing them back as before. 

8. Repeat this six times. 

Do this six times daily the first week, ten times daily the 
second week, and fifteen times each day after that right along. 

This exercise develops not the hack of the shoulder only, hut 
the whole shoulder. 



THE UPPER -BACK. 



73 




Fig. 26. 



These last three movements make good school-room exer- 
cises for the upper -back. So do both the Inner Back -arm 
Exercises (pages 51 and 52) ; for, as we go along, we now see 
more and more plainly how much the limbs and some parts of 
the body work together, and that there are few exercises for 
any part of the arms or legs which do not set some muscles of 
the body also at work, and that one exercise often sets many 
parts at work. 

4 



V4 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Qnestions. 

1. Describe the Third Upper-back Exercise. 

2. How should you breathe ? 

3. How should the dumb-bells be held all the time during this 
exercise ? 

4. How far behind you should you swing them ? 

5. How should the arms be held ? 

6. How long should you hold the dumb-bells behind you ? 

7. How many times daily should you thus swing them the first week ? 

8. How many times the second week ? 

9. How many times a day after that ? 

10. What part of the body does this exercise develop ? 

11. What do we now see as to the working of some of the muscles of 
the body, whenever we use some of those of either the arms or legs ? 

13. What as to the working of some of the arm or leg muscles, when 
we use any part of the body ? 



SECTION IV. 

FIRST HOME EXERCISE FOR THE UPPER -BACK AND TO 
BROADEN THE SHOULDERS. 

Let US look, while passing, at two very simple exercises for 
the upper-back, which can be practised at home for a minute 
or two daily if you have a horizontal bar or the rung of a lad- 
der, or other good piece of wood, hung a little higher than 
you can reach. 

Directions. — 1. Place the bar about three inches higher than 
you can reach. 

2. Then spring up and catch a firm hold of it with both 
hands, keeping them close together, with your knuckles turned 
away from you, but with your finger-nails turned towards you. 

3. Keep the chin up as high as you can, and slowly breathe 
very large breaths. 



THE UPPER -BACK. 



75 



4. Remain hanging in this way without bend- 
ing your elbows, and with your body hanging 
straight down, as in Fig. 27, until you slowly 
count twenty- five, all the time breathing just 
as slowly and fully as you can. 

5. Then drop easily to the floor, always land- 
ing on your toes and soles — never on your 
heels. 

Each day the first week hang thus until you 
slowly count twenty-five, and daily the second 
week until you slowly count fifty, and a whole 
minute each day after that right along. 

This is capital work both to expand the chest 
and hroade7i the shoulders, and, after the first 
month, can scarcely be practised too much out 
of school. You will be surprised after the first 
month to find how long you can hang in this 
way. One man claims that he made his chest 
three inches larger around in one month just 
by this exercise. 



'-"^ 



M 



Fig. 2T. 

1. What do yon need to have for the practise of these home exercises 
for the upper-back ? 
3. Describe the T^rst Home Exercise for the Upper-back. 

3. How high should the bar be placed ? 

4. How should the hands be held in this exercise ? 

5. How should you breathe during it ? 

6. How long should you thus hang each day the first week ? 

7. How long daily the second week ? 

8. How long each day after that ? 

9. Name two of the effects of this exercise. 

10. How much did one man increase the girth of his chest by this 
exercise in one month ? 



76 SOUND BODIES FOR OUB BOYS AND GIRLS. 

SECTION V. 

SECOND HOME EXERCISE FOR THE UPPER -BACK AND TO 
BROADEN THE SHOULDERS. 

Directions. — 1. Breathe a few slow, deep breaths, holding 
your chin up high. 

2. Now spring up and catch the bar with both hands, as in 
the last exercise — only this time at once let go with your left 
hand, and hang by your right hand only, letting your left 
hand hang down easily at your side. 

3. So hang till you slowly count ten, and then droj) on your 
toes and soles — not on your heels. 

4. Rest sixty seconds, always standing with your chin up 
high, and breathing sloioly lohen you are resting. 

5. Now spring up and catch hold of the bar in the same way; 
but this time let go with your right hand, and hang on with 
your left, only the right hanging down easily at your side. 
So hang until you slowly count ten. 

Each day the first week hang in this way with each hand 
till you slowly count ten. The second week hang each day in 
the same way with each hand till you slowly count twenty. 
After the second week, hang thus daily by each hand until 
you slowly count thirty. 

This work is good, not only to make the muscles on the 
back, right under the arms, large and strong, but it directly 
helps to make the shoulders broad, and well-shaped as well. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Second Home Exercise for t^e Upper-back. 

2. How long should you thus hang by each hand during the first week ? 

3. How long each day the second week ? 

4. And how long daily after that ? 

5. What is the effect of this work ? 



THE UPPEK-BACK. 77 

SECTION VL 

VAEIETY OF WOEK FOR THE UPPER -BA.CK. 

There are many out -door exercises which call the upper- 
back and the back of the shoulder into active play, and help 
to make them strong and shapely : 

1. Throwing a ball or stone uses the whole front side and back 

of the shoulder with which you throw. 

2. Rowing does the same for the backs of both shoulders — in- 

deed, for the whole upper-back. 

3. So does pulling at the rowing w^eights. 

4. Sawing wood. 

5. Mowing with a scythe, not a lawn-mower. 

6. Stooping over and picking up any heavy weightfrom the ground. 

7. Throwing stones behind you as far as you can with the hand 

swung swiftly past your side, not up over your shoulder. 

8. Carrying a weight in both hands, held behind you, and up off 

your body. 

9. Pulling with both hands on a rope, either downward or hori- 

zontally — indeed, in almost any direction, as in 

10. The tug-of-war, or in 

11. Mounting a rope, or hanging-pole, hand over hand. 

12. Swinging on one ring, or on two. 

13. Catching the bar with one hand or both, and trying to pull up 

till you touch your chin. 

14. Standing facing the pulley-weights in the gymnasium, and 

pulling them out many times, till your hands are far past 
your body , or, better yet, doing the same thing first with 
one hand and then with the other, but always keeping the 
elbows straight. 

These and many other exercises can easily be practised a 
little while every day, after you have been strengthened in 
these muscles by a month at the regular exercises above de- 
scribed ; and you may fairly expect, before many months, to 
find your upper-back getting much stronger, fuller, and better- 
shaped than it ever was before, unless you have been long 



IS SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

used to work which exercised the upper-back. See how vig- 
orous exercise greatly enlarged many chests, arms, shoulders, 
and backs during only a few months, as shown in Appendix, 
Tables I. to VII. ! 

But one thing you will want to avoid. If you give one 
muscle or set of muscles too much to do, and keep at it for 
months and years — as many hard-working men and women do 
— ^by-and-by the part so used gets to be, and to look, too large 
for the rest of your body. For instance, if you give your 
upper-back a great deal of hard work to do, and do not give 
the front of your chest about as much to do, you will not only 
tend to get round-shouldered, but the front of your chest will 
be likely to flatten, and sink in somewhat as well. 

Men who row many races — who care far more to win races 
than to become well-built, deep-chested, hearty men — often do 
so much more of rowing than of any other kind of hard work 
that they get out of shape in this way, especially if they do 
not row with their heads held back. 

Questions. 

1. Name as many out-door exercises as you can which are good for 
the upper-back. 

2. What kind of mowing develops the upper-back ? 

3. How should the elbows be held in pulling out the pulley-weights, 
if you wish to make your upper-back strong ? 

4. How long would it be well to practise the easier exercises for the 
upper-back before you try the harder ones ? 

5. After practising these harder exercises for a few months, what may 
you fairly expect to find in regard to your upper-back ? 

6. What will you need to avoid in muscular exercise ? 

7. If you give any muscles far more to do than others have, and keep 
on doing so for months and years, what effect will this have on these 
muscles which get so much more work than the rest ? 

8. If you give your upper back a great deal of hard work, and do not 
give the front of your chest nearly as much, what effect will this have 
on your figure ? 



THE UPPER -BACK, , 19 



REVIEW. 

1. If you put your hands behind you, on what part of your shoulders 
does it set the muscles at work ? 

2. How can you make the backs of your shoulders well-shaped and 
strong ? 

3. What other part of your body will this exercise strengthen ? 

4. What effect will it have on the shape of the upper half of the back ? 

5. What is a narrow back likely to lack ? 

6. How will it generally look ? 

7. Describe the First and Second Upper-back Exercises. 

8. What part of the neck does this exercise set at work ? 
' 9. What three parts of the back ? 

10. How can you tell with one hand what part of the back this exercise 
takes ? 

11. How far back of you should you swing the dumb-bells in the 
Third Upper-back Exercise ? 

12. How do you do the First Home Exercise for the Upper-back ? 

13. How high should the bar be placed ? 

14. How should the hands be held ? 

15. How long should you thus hang each day after the second week ? 

16. Name two of the effects of this exercise. 

17. How long should you hang by each hand daily the first week in 
the Second Home Exercise for the Upper-back ? 

18. What muscles of the body are made large and strong by this 
exercise ? 

19. What does it do to the shoulders ? 

20. Name as many out-door exercises as you can which are good for 
the upper-back. 

21. How long would it be well to practise the easier exercises for the 
upper-back before trying the harder ones ? 

22. What will you need to avoid in muscular exercise ? 

23. If you keep working some muscles more than others, what will 
the effect be ? 

24. If you give your upper-back much hard work and the front of 
your chest but little, and continue doing so, what will the effect be on 
your figure ? 



80 SOUND BODIES FOR OUK BOYS AND GIKLS. 



PART v.— THE SMALL OF THE BACK. 
SECTION L 

GENERAL REMARKS. 

We come now to a part not very lar,ge — too often not large 
enough, indeed — called the " small of the back," or back of the 
waist — ^but, at the same time, one of the most important parts 
of the whole body. However strong anywhere else a man 
may be, if he has not a well-koiit, well-built vmist he is not a 
thoroughly strong man. A broad-shouldered man with a small 
waist will be thrown in a wrestle by a larger - waisted man 
with narrower shoulders, if the two men are equally tough, 
muscular, and used to wrestling. He will be out-rowed by a 
strong - waisted oarsman, out -mowed by a strong - waisted 
mower. Any laborer with pick, spade, or bar, who has a 
square, well-built waist, will tire him out in his line long be- 
fore the day is over. A strong- waisted man will be almost 
certain, if equally well trained, to out-walk him, out-run him 
over long distances, out-jump him — indeed, beat him at almost 
any sort of foot-work calling for strength and staying power, 
and for the simple reason that the small-waisted man is not 
as well-built as the other in a part called into very active use 
in these kinds of hard work. His broad shoulders are showy, 
and likely indicate that some of his ancestors were very strong 
people ; but he has kept the shoulders and lost the powerful 
waist, mainly because he has not given his waist enough to do. 
So his shoulders become almost a burden to him, and are in 



THE SMALL OF THE BACK. 81 

his way, because he lacks the power to carry them about 
easily and long at swift, hard work. But build his waist up 
till it gets to be square, and strong, and well-knit, and give 
him what he often lacks, namely, a good pair of legs as well, 
and he will tell you himself how much stronger he is than 
he used to be, and how much more he can do. Indeed, his 
heart, lungs, stomach, and most of his other vital organs have 
more room now than they used to have, when his waist was 
pinched ; and so he has gained not only more strength of 
muscle, but more vitality as well. 

Renforth, Courtney, and Hanlan, very famous oarsmen; Row- 
ell, the great pedestrian ; Dr. Winship and William B. Curtis, 
each of whom at one time lifted more than a ton ; and many 
other men of great power or great endurance in various kinds 
of athletic contests and severe trials of their strength or stay, 
have been noted for their well-made and very powerful waists. 

What, then, does the back of the waist do ? It is the part 
you use most when you stoop over to pick up a heavy weight. 
The laborer uses it when he lifts a rock or a log, or picks up 
a spadeful of earth or a forkful of hay. The porter uses it 
when he lifts a heavy trunk with both hands. When you row, 
here, more than in any other part, is where you want to be 
surely strong (and not in the back of the waist only, but in 
the whole waist), for here comes the hardest of the pull. 

Let us, then, have two or three simple exercises for this 
valuable part of the body. 

Questions. 

1. Can one who has a weak 'waist be thoroughly strong ? 

2. Which of the two could out-row the other, if they were in other 
respects equally strong — a broad-shouldered man with a small waist, or 
a strong- waisted man with narrow shoulders ? 

3. Name some ways in which a strong- waisted man, if equally well 
trained, will outdo a slim- waisted man ? 

4* 



82 



SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



4. Wliat is the reason of this ? 

5. What are broad shoulders likely to indicate ? 

6. If a man has broad shoulders, but a small waist, where will he lack 
power ? 

7. If he build up his waist and legs by hard work, how will he be ? 

8. What effect will it have upon his heart, lungs, and other vital organs? 

9. What, then, has he gained ? 

10. Give instances of men famous for great power or endurance. 

11. What kind of waists had they? 

12. What kind of work, then, does the back of the waist do ? 

13. What kind of waist must a strong oarsman have ? 



SECTION II. 



FIRST EXERCISE FOR THE BACK OF THE WAIST. 



Directions. — 1. Place the 
front of you. 

2. Stand with the feet 




, take one of the 
bells in each 



Fig. 28. 



two dumb-bells on the floor in 

about eight inches apart, and 
breathe three slow, 
deep breaths. 

3. Now, stooping 
down 

dumb - Dens m 
hand, as in Fig. 28, 
and gradually rise till 
you are standing up 
straight, and your 
hands are hanging eas- 
ily at your sides. 

4. Now, bending 
slowly forward, lower 
the dumb-bells stead- 
ily again till they are 
on the floor. 



THE SMALL OF THE BACK. 



83 



6. Repeat this six times. 

Do this six times each day the first week without stopping, 
twelve times daily the second week, and fifteen times a day 
after that right along. 

You will soon find now that the small of your back is very 

actively at work. 

Qnestions. 

1. Describe the First Exercise for the Back of the Waist, 

2. How should you breathe before beginning this exercise ? 

3. Should you raise the dumb-bells quickly or slowly ? 

4. How many times should this be done daily the first week ? 

5. How many times each day the second week ? 

6. And how many times daily after that ? 



SECTION III. 

SECOND EXEECISE FOR THE BACK 
OF THE WAIST. 

Directions. — 1. Standing erect, 
hold a dumb-bell on the back of 
your neck with both hands, as in 
Fig. 29. 

2. Keeping a firm hold of the 
dumb-bell, so -that it will not slip 
off, now stoop slowly forward till 
your body is leaning far over in 
the position shown in Fig. 30. 

3. Rest there till you slowly 
count ten. 

4. Then slowly rise till you are 
up straight. 

5. Rest again till you count ten. 

6. Then bend slowly downward, 
and rest as before. 




Fig. 29. 



84 



SOUND BODIES FOE OUE BOYS AND GIRLS. 



V. Stand straight again, first inhaling a full breath. 
8. Repeat this six times. 

Do this six times 
daily the first week 
without stopping, ten 
times daily the sec- 
ond week, and fifteen 
times each day after 
that right along. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Second 
Exercise for the Back of 
the Waist. 

2. How should the 
dumb-bell be held in this 
exercise ? 

3. How many times 
should you so bend and 
then raise the dumb-bell 
each day the first week ? 

4. How many times 
daily the second week ? 

How many times each day after that right along ? 

At what time in this exercise should you inhale a deep breath ? 




SECTION IV. 

THIRD EXERCISE FOR THE BACK OF THE WAIST. 

Directions. — 1. Breathing slow and very full breaths, lean 
far forward with a dumb-bell in each hand, as in Fig. 31. 

2. Keeping in this position, walk slowly up the aisle, down 
the next aisle, and back to the point of starting. 

Walk that far in the same way daily the first week, twice 



THE SMALL OF THE BACK. 



85 



as far daily the second 
week, and three times 
that distance daily after 
that. 

These are simple and 
rather easy in-door exer- 
cises to help make the 
back of the waist strong 
and well-shaped. After 
thus working at them not 
over a minute or two a 
day for the first month, 
your back will be al- 
ready tougher, and fitter 
for something worth call- 
ing work. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Third Exercise for the Back of the Waist. 

2. How should you breathe during this exercise ? 

3. How should you walk during it ? 

4. How far should you walk thus each week from the time you begin ? 

5. Are these last-named three exercises hard to do ? 

6. Yet what do they do for this important part of the body, even in the 
first three or four, weeks ? 




Fig. 31. 



SECTION Y. 

VAEIOUS OTHER EXERCISES FOR THE BACK OF THE WAIST. 

Out of doors there is a great variety of work, all excellent 
for the back of the waist. Such as 

1. Weeding. 

2. Shovelling earth, coal, snow, or other heavy substance. 

3. Mowing with a scythe. 



86 SOUND BODIES FOR OUE BOYS AND GIRLS. 

4. PitcMng hay or grain. 

5. Picking up any good-sized stone or other weight from the 

ground with both hands. 

6. Sawing wood with a two-hand saw. 

7. Eowing. 

8. Wrestling. 

9. The tug-of-war. 

10. Prying up a heavy weight with a bar of wood or iron. 

11. Carrying a heavy weight, like a sack of grain, not on your 

shoulders, but on your back. 

12. Trying to get a stick away from another boy or girl about as 

strong as you are. 

These are some of the exercises which tend to make not 
only the back of your waist strong, but to make the whole 
back strong, and well-shaped also. 

But some of them, especially the tug-of-war, should not be 
practised at all at first, at least without great care, until the 
muscles brought into action are first made strong and built up 
by lighter work, such as the exercises just described. 

While there probably nener was an exercise devised that 
brings nearly all the muscles of the body and limbs into play 
— ^though you often see it claimed for various exercises^still, 
in many of these for the back of the waist, we have set at 
work the hands, some of the muscles of the arms and shoul- 
ders, about the whole of the back, and, as we sh^all see pres- 
ently, some of the muscles of the legs. 

Questions. 

1. ISTame as many exercises as you can for the back of the waist. 

2. Besides making the back of your waist strong, what else do these 
exercises do for you ? 

3. When should some of the harder ones of these be practised ? 

4. Name one of which this is especially true. 

5. What other muscles besides those of the back of the waist are set at 
work in these exercises ? 

6. Is it probable that there ever was an exercise which brought into 
play all the muscles at once ? 



THE SIDES. 



87 



PART VI.— THE SIDES. 



SECTION I. 



FIEST SIDE EXEKCISE. 

We are now nearly through with the arms, shoulders, neck, 
and back. 

Before trying some work for the front of the body and for 
the legs, let us look at the 
sides of the waist. When- 
ever you have to hold your- 
self up erect, these side mus- 
cles are among those which 
help keep you so, and when- 
ever you lean over to one 
side, you at once set them 
at work, for they help to 
keep you from falling over. 

Directions. — 1. Stand with 
your arms akimbo, and your 
chin up. 

2. Have the feet about a 
foot apart. 

3. Now lean slowly far 
over to the left till you are 
in the position as shown in 
Fig. 32. 

4. Rest there a moment ; Fig. 32. 




88 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIELS. 

then rise till you are up straight, and, instead of stopping 
there, keep moving your body till it leans over as far to the 
right side. 

5. So sway over first to the left side, and then to the right, 
till you have gone each way six times. 

Sway that many times each day the first week, and ten times 
each day the second week, and fifteen times daily after that. 

You will soon find that this exercise, besides making these 
muscles stronger, also makes it easier for you to stoop over 
sideways than it used to be, unless you have already done 
similar work. 

Questions. 

1. Wlien you hold yourself up straight, what muscles of the body help 
keep you so ? 

2. When you lean over sideways, what do these muscles of the sides do ? 

3. Describe the First Side Exercise. 

4. How many times should you thus sway each way daily the first week ? 

5. How many times each day the second week ? 

6. And how many times daily thereafter ? 

7. Name two effects of this exercise. 



SECTION II. 

SECOND SIDE EXERCISE. 



Directions. — 1. Take a dumb-bell in your right hand, and 
hold it up high over your head. 

2. Stand with the chin up high all the time. 

3. Breathe a full, deep, slow breath. 

4. Now slowly lower the dumb-bell, not down to your right 
shoulder, but across, above your head, and down over your left 
shoulder, as low as you can, till it touches your shoulder, let- 
ting your body tip over to the left, as in Fig. 33. 



THE SIDES. 



89 



5. Hold it there till you slowly count 
ten. 

6. Now bring it back up over -head 
again. Then do the same with the dumb- 
bell in your left hand. 

7. Do this five times with each hand. 

Repeat this five times each day the 
first week, eight times daily the second 
week, and twelve times daily after that 
right along. 

This will be found harder work than 
the last exercise, especially for the mus- 
cles at the sides. 



Questions. 

1. Describe the Second Side Exercise. 

2. How should the chin Tbe held during this 
exercise ? 

3. How should you breathe ? 

4. How long should the dumb-bell be held in 
the position shown in Fig. 33 ? 

5. How many times daily the first week should 
this exercise be taken with each hand ? 

6. How many times each day the second week ? 

7. How many times daily after that ? 

8. How does this exercise compare with the First Side Exercise ? 




SECTION III. 

THmD,SIDE EXERCISE. 



Directions. — 1. Hold the dumb-bell in your right hand, 
across, over the left shoulder, as in Fig. 33. 

2. Hold the chin up high all the time. 

3. Keeping the dumb-bell there, breathe slow, deep breaths, 



90 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

and walk steadily up the aisle and down the next one, till 
opposite the starting-point. 

4. Then change the dumb-bell into your left hand, hold it 
over your right shoulder, turn and walk back to the starting- 
point. 

Repeat this walk daily the first week. The second week, 
with the dumb-bell in your right hand, walk as before, daily 
up the aisle, down the next aisle, and back to the starting- 
point, before you change hands. Then change and walk the 
same distance with the dumb-bell in the other hand. Daily 
after that walk once around the room, holding the dumb-bell 
in the same way in the right hand. Then go the same distance 
with the dumb-bell held in the same way in the left hand. 

It will not take long to see, or rather to feel, that this exer- 
cise is stretching your sides, and making them stronger in a 
way quite unusual to many girls and boys. And this very 
stretching, done thus carefully, and increasing little by little, 
will not only bring strong and shapely muscles on the sides of 
the waist, just above the hip-bones, but will also benefit the 
stomach, bowels, and other vital organs, by giving them more 
room and ease of action than they have when the body is at 
all bent down or the waist drawn in, as it is far too often by 
most boys and girls when they are sitting down, and even 
when standing or walking — and by most men and women, too, 
for that matter. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Third Side Exercise. 

2. How should the chin be held during this walk ? 

3. How far should you thus walk with the dumb-bell in your right 
hand? 

4. What should then be done with the dumb-bell ? 

5. How should you breathe throughout this exercise ? 

6. How far should you thus walk each day the second week ? 



THE SIDES. 91 

7. How far daily after that ? 

8. What will this exercise do to the sides ? 

9. How will it benefit many of the vital organs ? 

10. What is a common fault of hoys and girls, and of men and women 
also, in the carriage of their bodies ? 



SECTION IV. 

VAEIOUS OTHER EXEECISES FOE THE SIDES OF THE WAIST. 

1. Hang by both hands from a bar, rings, or branch overhead, 

keeping the feet together and the knees straight, and swing 
the legs far up to the right side, then up to the left. 

2. Or simply hang by one hand, letting your feet hang straight 

down, 

3. Or go up a rope hand over hand. 

4. Or, on the horizontal ladder, catch hold of two rungs as far 

apart as you can comfortably reach, and then, letting go with 
your left hand only, swing over till you can catch another 
rung as far over to the right side of your right hand as the 
one your hand just left was to the left of it; and then repeat. 

5. Wresthng of almost any kind pulls hard, often violently, on 

these side muscles, and good wrestlers are sure to be strong 
and well-shaped here. 

6. Eowing needs strong sides, but not so much as wrestling does. 

7. So does playing tennis. 

8. Pushing a dumb-bell or other weight up over the head, with 

one hand, brings into action that side of the waist a little, 
and of the other side a good deal. 

9. Walking with the two dumb-bells, or any other weight, held 

high up over your head, soon takes vigorous hold here at 
the sides. 
10. So does carrying a sack of salt, grain, or other heavy material 
on one shoulder ; or a trunk, as porters do ; or a side of beef, 
or two or three sheep, or other heavy weight of meat, as the 
beef -carriers do in the markets. Indeed, this is one of the 
best exercises known for making the waist shapely and 
powerful — that is, if you practise carrying these weights as 
often on one shoulder as on the other. 



92 SOUND BODIES FOR OUK BOYS AND GIRLS. 

11. Fencing. 
13. Boxing. 

13. Single stick. 

14. Walking erect, and rapidly, for a long distance. 

15. Running, not flat-footed, but on the soles and toes. 

16. Jumping. 

17. Skating, where you -lean far over, as in the outer roll, either 

forward or backward. 

18. Dancing. 

19. And, better than almost any of these, hopping on one foot. 

These all make the sides of the waist strong, and any of 
them, practised vigorously and faithfully for a few minutes a 
day, will go far, before even one year is over, towards build- 
ing a weak and shaky-looking waist into a firm, well-knit, and 
shapely one, so helping to hold the body easily erect, whether 
one is sitting, standing, walking, running, jumping, hopping, 
or skating. 

Questions. 

1. Name various other exercises for the sides of the waist. 

2. Describe an exercise on a horizontal ladder which is excellent for 
the sides. 

3. What kind of waists do good wrestlers have ? 

- 4. Of which side does pushing up a dumb-bell with one hand take hold 
the more, the side under the pushing hand or the opposite side ? 

5. Name a dumb-bell exercise which takes hold of both sides. 

6. What is one of the best exercises known for bringing a shapely and 
powerful waist ? 

7. What sorts of walking take hold of the sides of the waist ? 

8. What kind of running does the same thing ? 

9. What kind of skating ? 

10. And what exercise is better than almost any of these for improving 
the size and shape of the side muscles ? 

11. If any of these exercises are practised faithfully a few minutes 
daily, what results may be expected, even in one year ? 



THE SIDES. 93 



REVIEW. 



1. Can one wlio has a weak waist he thoroughly strong ? 

2. Which of the two could out-row the other if they were otherwise 
equally strong, a broad-shouldered man with a small waist, or a strong- 
waisted man with narrow shoulders ? 

3. What are broad shoulders likely to indicate ? 

4. What will making one's waist larger and stronger help to do for his 
heart, lungs, and other vital organs ? 

5. Besides increased vital power, what else does he gain ? 

6. Grive instances of men famous for great power and endurance. 

7. What kind of waists had they ? 

8. What kind of work does the back of the waist do ? 

9. Describe the First Exercise for the Back of the Waist ? 

10. Kame as many exercises as you can for the back of the waist. 

11. Besides making the back of your waist strong, what else do these 
exercises do for you ? 

12. Name other muscles these exercises set at work. 

13. Is it probable that there ever was an exercise which brought into 
play all the muscles at once ? 

14. When you hold yourself erect, what muscles help keep you so ? 

15. When you lean over sideways, what do these side muscles do ? 

16. How do you do the First Side Exercise ? 

17. Mention two results you will soon find from this exercise. 

18. Describe the Second Side Exercise. 

19. How does this exercise compare with the First Side Exercise ? 

20. What is a common fault of boys and girls, and also of men and 
women, in the carriage of their bodies ? 

21. Name as many other exercises as you can for the sides of the waist. 

22. Name a dumb-bell exercise which takes hold of both sides. 

23. What is one of the best exercises known for making a shapely and 
powerful waist ? 

24. What kinds of walking makes the sides of the waist strong ? 

25. What kind of running ? 

26. What kind of skating ? 

27. Name a better exercise than any of these last three for improving 
the size and shape of the side muscles. 



94 SOUND BODIES FOK OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



PART YII.— THE CHEST. 
SECTION I. 

GENERAL REMARKS. 

On the front of the body there are two important sets of 
muscles, larger than the others — namely, those across the up- 
per part of the front of the chest between the shoulders, and 
those across the abdomen. There are also small muscles be- 
tween the ribs, which are brought into action either by deep 
breathing, or by putting the hands high over the head, or by 
anything, in short, which tends to stretch the ribs apart. But 
so many other exercises bring these little muscles into play, 
that special work for them need not be mentioned here. 

The muscles across the upper part of the front of the chest, 
between the shoulders, are highly important in a variety of 
Ways. Weak-chested persons of either sex are likely to have 
these muscles weak. On the other hand, these muscles are 
sure to be full if the chest is well-set, and the arms are well- 
made, shapely, and strong. For the muscles of the arm and 
those of the upper half of the body so work together, that you 
can scarcely use any of the one — save some of those of the 
fore-arm — without at once setting the others in action. Oddly 
enough, too, whether you use the biceps or the back-arm, you 
set the muscles on the front of your chest at work. 

With these full and strong, it is far easier to hold the chest 
out than when they are thin and weak ; indeed, they seem to 
help keep the chest out, without much effort on their owner's 



THE CHEST. 95 

part. And this holding the chest out is of great benefit — so 
great that, if done most of the time, it sometimes even saves 
one's life. For the greater part of the work of millions of men 
and women for many hours daily is done while they are sit- 
ting, and with their heads only, or with the hands doing very 
light work, as a woman's hands in sewing, or a man's in writ- 
ing. When working thus they breathe small, partial breaths, 
so only partly filling the lungs. And, as the lungs take up 
most of the room within the larger ribs — that is, in the chest — 
if you only give the lungs half -work to do, both they and the 
chest grow small, and often weak. Then their owner is likely 
to get weak likewise, is more liable to take cold, and, if the 
cold, as it often does, gets on his lungs, it is far more likely 
(as we have seen on page 4) to become dangerous and even 
fatal than it would be were his lungs full, large, and well-used. 

But making these muscles on the front of the chest large 
and strong helps to make and keep the chest full and well- 
shaped, while the deep breathing, which almost any vigorous 
exercise forces us to do, also aids greatly in the same way, and 
brings us by-and-by the large and healthy lungs so desirable 
for all. 

In most boys and girls — though they may not know it — 
these muscles across the front of the upper part of the chest 
are weak, far -v^eaker than they ought to be. One or two 
proofs of this will be shown presently. 

Though there are other muscles on the chest besides these, 
and though these are only on the upper part of the front of 
the chest, yet for brevity we will call the exercises for these 
muscles " chest exercises." * 

Questions. 

1, Name two important sets of muscles on the front of the body. 

2. What class of persons are likely to have the muscles across the 
upper part of the front of the chest weak ? 



96 SOUND BODIES FOE OUK BOYS AND GIELS. 

3. If the chest is well set and the arms are strong, how are these chest 
muscles sure to be ? 

4. Why so? 

5. When you use either the biceps or back-arm, what muscles on the 
chest do you at once set in action ? 

6. If these chest muscles are large, what effect does it tend to have on 
the way in which you hold the chest ? 

7. What good does it do to hold the chest out ? 

8. In what position do many persons spend much of their time ? 

9. Mention kinds of work in which this is the case. 

10. How do thej^ breathe when at such work ? 

11. What organs take up most of the room in the chest ? 

12. If you give the lungs only half -work to do, what will be the result ? 

13. What will be the effect on their owner ? 

14. What will this getting weak make one liable to do ? 

15. How does vigorous exercise cause us to breathe ? 

16. What does this deep breathing do to the lungs ? 

17. Do most boys and girls have these chest muscles strong or weak ? 

18. What will we call the exercises for these muscles across the upper 
part of the front of the chest ? 



SECTION 11. 

FIRST CHEST EXERCISE. 



Directions. — 1. Take a dumb-bell in each hand, and stand 
with the chin as high as you can. 

2. Do not bend the knees at all. 

3. Curl the dumb-bells. 

4. Then push them high up over your shoulders. 

5. Hold them there a moment. 

6. Breathe a deep and full breath. 

7. Hold your chest out full, and gradually lower the dumb- 
bells far out sideways, without bending the elbows, until your 
arms are level with your shoulders, as in Fig. 26, page -73. 

8. Hold them there till you count ten. 



THE CHEST. 97 

9. Keep the chin up high all the time. 

10. Then raise them overhead again. 

11. Repeat this five times. 

Do this exercise five times daily the first week, eight times 
daily the second week, and ten times each day after that. 

This is excellent work to enlarge and raise the chest itself, 
as, for instance, to take a flat or hollow chest and make it high 
and full, and to build up and strengthen the muscles across 
the front of the upper part of the chest — and these are, to 
most of us, very important things. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the First Chest Exercise. 

2. Should the knees be bent in this exercise ? 

3. While the dumb-bells are high over the head, how should you 
breathe ? 

4. How should the chest be held ? 

5. In what direction should you lower the dumb-bells in this exercise ? 

6. How far down should you thus lower them ? 

7. How long should you thus hold them stretched out ? 

8. How many times should this exercise be practised each day the first 
week ? 

9. How many times daily the second week ? 

10. How many times each day after that ? 

11. Name two good effects of this exercise. 



SECTION III. 

SECOND CHEST EXEECISE. 



Directions. — 1. Take a djimb-bell in each hand. 

2. Stand erect. 

3. Face the ceiling right overhead. 

4. Breathe slow, deep breaths. 

5. Curl both dumb-bells, not in front, but as far out at each 

5 



98 SOUND BODIES FOE OUK BOYS AND GIELS. 

side of you as possible, and without touching the elbows to 
the sides. 

6. Repeat this six times. 

There is no need of urging you to hold the chest out in this 
exercise, because you cannot help doing so, if you practise the 
exercise as directed. 

With light dumb-bells, beginning with a few strokes daily, 
and gradually doing more as the muscles in use get stronger, 
you not only avoid hurting the chest, but you bring it great 
benefit — and not only the chest, but you benefit nearly all the 
vital organs in the body as well. 

Curl the dumb-bells in exactly this way six times each day 
the first week without stopping, ten times daily the second 
week, and fifteen times each day after that. 

Also, if you have dumb-bells at home (as it would be well 
to do), you will get on all the faster if you do the same thing 
there each morning and evening. 

One thing more. If in curling in this way six times daily 
the first week you found that you took three breaths, though 
you tried to breathe deeply and slowly, now see if in the sec- 
ond week you cannot curl ten times in the same number of 
breaths, or even in two breaths. The value of this practice of 
taking the largest breaths you can, and holding the air in at 
each breath as long as you can, in almost all kinds of work 
that call the muscles into action, has already been seen on 

page 19. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Second Chest Exercise. 

2. How should you face in this exercise ? 

3. Sliould the dumb-bells be curled in front of you ? 

4. While thus curling, should the elbows at any time touch the body ? 

5. How will the chest necessarily be held if you practise this exercise 
correctly ? 



THE CHEST. 99 

6. What effect does this exercise have on the vital organs ? 

7. How many times should you thus curl the dumb - bells daily the 
first week ? 

8. How many times each day the second week ? 

9. How many times daily after that ? 

10. How many times daily at home also, if you have dumb-bells 
there ? 

11. How should you try to breathe during this exercise after the first 
week? 

12. Name some of the advantages of deep breathing while exercising, 
as mentioned on page 19. 



SECTIOK IV. 

THIED CHEST EXERCISE. 



Directions. — 1. Stand in the aisle, between two desks or 
benches, not over two feet apart, and put one hand on each. 

2. Now, keeping your hands on these desks, walk back- 
ward two steps, and stand there. 

3. Keeping your chin up, and your body and knees at the 
same time stiff and straight, gradually bend your elbows and 
lower your body till your chest touches your thumbs, as in 
Fig. 34. 

4. Push slowly upward, then lower again. 

5. Repeat this five times. 

Do this five times daily the first week without stopping, 
ten times daily the second week, and fifteen times daily after 
that. 

At horae, to get this same exercise, simply place two strong 
chairs about two feet apart, put one hand on the seat of each, 
as in Fig. 11, page 38, and follow the above directions. 



100 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 




Fig. 34. 

Questions. 

1. How do you do the Third Chest Exercise ? 
- 2. How far back do you step ? 

3. How far down should you lower your chest in this exercise 

4. How many times daily should this be done the first week ? 

5. How many the second week ? 

6. How many after that ? 

7. How can this same exercise be had at home ? 



SECTION V. 



FOURTH CHEST EXERCISE, OR HALF-DIPPING. 

After following up the last two exercises as directed, for a 
minute or less daily for six weeks, the muscles on the front of 
your chest will be strong enough to try something harder. 



THE CHEST. 



101 



Directions. — 1. Stand between two desks, which should not 
be over two feet apart, and seventeen inches would do better. 

2. Place one hand on 
each desk. 

3. Breathe a deep, full 
breath, and hold it in. 

4. Taking your feet off 
the floor, and resting your 
weight on your hands, 
lower slowly and steadily, 
not till your knees reach 
the floor, but till they are 
about half-way down, as in 
Fig. 35. 

5. Rest there till you 
slowly count three. 

6. Then raise yourself 
up, simply by pushing on 
the desks, till your arms 
are straight again. 

Y. Do not let the feet 
touch the floor at any time 




Fig. 35. 



during the exercise, but keep them together and well out be- 
hind you. 

8. Repeat this twice. 

Do two of these half -dips daily the first week, five each day 
the second week, and seven daily the third week. On the 
fourth week try something harder yet. 

Questions. 

1. Describe Half -dipping. 

2. How many weeks should pass, in which you are practising the pre- 
vious chest exercises, before you try this one ? 

8. How should the chin be held ? 



102 SOUND BODIES FOR OUE BOYS AND GIRLS. 

4. Where does the weight rest in this exercise ? 

5. How low should you dip ? 

6. How should the feet be held ? 

7. How many such half-dips should be done each day during the first 
three weeks ? 



SECTION VI. 

FIFTH CHEST EXERCISE, OR DIPPING. 

This exercise will be found fully described on pages 43-45. 

After you get so that you can do six or eight dips without 
difficulty, there is scarcely an exercise hy which you can do 
your hack-arms and the front of your chest so much good in 
so little time, or that it would pay you so well to practise 
several times a day as a pastime. You will soon be delighted 
with the improved looks, size, and power this simple work, 
thus followed up vigorously — say, in all, for five minutes daily 
— will bring to your upper- arms, chest, and shoulders ; for the 
broadening of your chest, of course, sets the shoulders off to 
better advantage, while it also gives them quite a share of the 
work to do, and thus improves their quality and size as well. 

A list of many other exercises, nearly all excellent for the 
front of the chest, will be found on pages 49 and 50. It will 
be well to know by heart what muscles these different exer- 
cises call into action, as you are thus almost sure to have at 
your command^ wherever you are, one or m^ore of them which 
you can practise handily, and loith good results. 

Questions. 

1. How do you dip ? 

2. What parts does this exercise greatly strengthen ? 

3. How often daily would it pay to practise it as a pastime ? 

4. What does it do to the chest and shoulders ? 

5. Name other exercises for the chest and shoulders. 



THE CHEST. 103 

SECTION yii. 

THE YALrE OF A GOOD CHEST. 

It should be borne in mind that tbe upper part of tbe back 
is as mucb a part of the chest as the upper part of the front 
of the body — in short, that your chest is your whole body 
from your neck to your waist. 

l!^ow, while these last few exercises have been bringing 
you fine muscles across the front of your chest, especially the 
upper part of it, there are three exercises which will be new 
to most boys and girls, yet which are each simple and ad- 
mirable for the whole chest. And, in fact,. there is scarcely 
any other exercise so valuable to most persons as that which 
expands and strengthens the chest itself, and thus brings 
more lung - power, more heart - power — indeed, more vital 
power generally ; and for the reason that far the greater 
part of the work done by men out-of-doors — men who are 
farmers, mechanics, or laborers — tends to round their shoul- 
ders, and to make their backs much broader than the front of 
their chests, while a great majority of those whose work is 
done in-doors — professional men, merchants, bankers, clerks, 
and about all who get their living by their heads rather than 
their hands — ^do little or nothing to benefit their chests, or to 
help keep them full and deep ; on the contrary, their very 
business and mode of life often tends to cramp and weaken 
them instead. Thus the out-of-door men, while often healthy, 
are not nearly so sturdy as they might be, while those in-doors 
lead a life which does not bring them nearly the strength of 
the out-of-door men — indeed, too often tends to weaken and 
break them down before old age. 

Hence, if out-of-door boys and men will take a little, or, 
better yet, a good deal of special work to enlarge their chests 



104 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

and make them stronger, they will be the better for it ; they 
will, as a British soldier who had been trying it found, "be 
fitter for anything they are called on to do ;" while to the in- 
door boys and men the advantage will be so great as to often 
not only keep them well, when they would otherwise break 
down with sickness, but to even insure to not a few a green 
old age, and a useful one as well. And in almost every par- 
ticular is the same true of girls and women. 

Thus far the exercises given for practice in the school-room 
are such as can be done either without any apparatus at all, or 
with only a cheap pair of dumb-bells, two desks, or a small 
stick. One of the three exercises for the whole chest can also 
be done with these same dumb-bells. What will be needed 
for the other two will be seen presently. 

Questions. 

1. What part of the body is the chest ? 

2. What kind of exercises are especially valuable to most persons ? 

3. Why so? 

4. Name classes of men who do httle for their chests. 

5. What will a good deal of chest exercise do for any one ? 

6. How did the British soldier find that exercise affected him ? 
-7. Will exercise be equally beneficial to girls as well as boys ? 



SECTION yiii. 

THREE HOME EXERCISES FOR ENLARGING THE CHEST. FIRST 

HOME CHEST EXERCISE. 

Directions. — 1. Lie flat on your back on the floor, or, better 
yet, on a mattress, pillow, or other substance easy to the back. 

2. Take a dumb-bell in each hand, and stretch your arms up 
back of your head as far as you can, till the dumb-bells touch 
the floor, as in Fig. 36. 



THE CHEST. 



105 




Fig. 36. 

3. Breathe a deep, full breath, and hold it all in your chest. 

4. Now raise the dumb-bells, and bring them clear over till 
they are as high as you can reach, as in Fig. 37, not bending 
the elbows once all the way. 

5. Rest a moment. Then lift them back of your head again, 
inhale a full breath, hold it in, and raise them as before. 

6. Repeat this three times. 

Do this, in the first week, three times each morning soon 
after rising, and as many times before going to bed. The 
second week, do it five times each morning and evening, and 
after that ten times each morning and evening right along. 

This is great work for the chest, the putting the arms over 
your head in this way, and the deep breathing at the same 
time, causing you to expand your chest to its utmost capacity 
— a thing, by the way, which many persons do not do once in 
a whole day, sometimes even in a whole month. 




Pig. 3T 

5* 



106 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the First Home Chest Exercise. 

3. How should you breathe during this exercise ? 

3. How should the elbows be held ? 

4. How many times should you practise this exercise each week ? 

5. What is its effect on the chest ? 

6. How often do some persons breathe a full breath ? 



SECTION IX. 

SECOND HOME CHEST EXERCISE. 

Now let us see to the new apparatus, whicli is so simple and 
easy that any boy, handy with tools, can quickly make it, and 
which it is well to have in every school-room and in almost 
every bedroom in the land. From the hardware man get four 
common pulleys, with wheels about four inches in diameter. 
Fasten them up, as shown in Fig. 38 — that is, so that the outer 
pulley, a, is three feet from the inner pulley, ^, and that the 
outer pulley, c7, is three feet from the inner pulley, c. Pass a 
rope half an inch thick over a and h, and another over c and d. 
Cut each rope long enough to reach from the floor up over its 
two pulleys and down to about a foot above your head. To 
the ends, h and c, by smaller ropes, attach wooden handles, 
namely, straight, round, hard. -wood sticks, each about three 
quarters of an inch or an inch thick and five or six inches 
long. Tie a dumb-bell or other weight on each floor-end of 
the rope. I^ow you are ready for exercise. 

Directions. — 1. Stand erect under the handles, and take one 
in each hand. 

2. Hold your chin up as high as you can. 

3. Breathe till your chest is full, and hold the air in. 

4. Without bending the elbows or letting any air out of 



THE CHEST. 



107 




108 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

yonr chest, bear your hands steadily downward, keeping them 
as far out at each side as you can, until you bring the handles 
down near your sides. Now breathe out through your nose, 
and inhale another full, deep breath, and hold it. 

5. Then lower the weights slowly, your hands going up 
along the same lines that they came down. Be sure to keep 
the chin up high all the time. 

6. Repeat this ten times. 

Do this exercise ten times daily the first week, fifteen times 
each day the second week, and practise it daily after that as 
many times as you can comfortably. 

This is one of the best-known exercises to widen the chest ; 
to keep the chest up high where it belongs, instead of letting 
it sag down on the abdomen, and thus cramping both the vital 
organs in the abdomen and those in the chest itself ; also to 
make the chest full, well-shaped, and strong. 

Questions. 

1. Tell how to do the Second Home Chest Exercise. 

2. How should you breathe during this work ? 

3. Just after you get your hands down by your sides, how should you 
breathe ? 

4. How should you lower the weights, swiftly or slowly ? 

5. How should the chin be always held in this exercise ? 

6. How often should you pull the weights down in this way each day 
the first week ? 

7. How many daily the second week ? 

8. How often daily after that ? 

9. What three effects has this exercise on the chest ? 

10. If you let your chest sag downward instead of holding it up high 
and full, what effect will this have both on the vital organs in the abdomen 
and on those in the chest itself ? 



THE CHEST. 



109 



SECTION X. 

THIRD HOME CHEST EXERCISE. 

The other chest-apparatus is made thus : 

With a bit of small rope, tie the middle of a piece of broom- 
handle about three feet long to one of the handles you have 
just been using. At the other end of the long rope fasten 
both dumb-bells, l^ow it is ready. 

Directions. — 1. Catch the ends of the stick, as in Fig. 39, hold- 
ing the chin up very high all the time. 

2. After two or three deep, slow 
breaths, just when you have breathed as 
full a breath as you can, hold your breath, 
keeping the lips shut, with your elbows 
straight and your arms nearly parallel, 
bring both hands straight down out in 
front of you till they are at your sides, as 
in Fig. 40. 

3. Hold them there a moment. 

4. Then let your hands go slowly up 
again the same lines till they are high 
overhead. 

5. Again breathe a deep breath, apd 
bear down as before. 

6. Repeat this ten times. 

Do this ten times daily the first week, 
fifteen times each day the second week, 
and as many times daily after that as you 
can comfortably. 

The last exercise widened your chest. 
This one will deepen it from front to 




110 



SOUND BODIES FOE OUR BOTS AND GIELS. 




Fie:. 40. 



back, from breast-bone to back- 
bone. Hence it is, of course, just 
the thing for thin-chested people. 
But the chin must never, during 
this exercise, come down. 

Questions. 

1. Describe chest-apparatus No. 2. 

2. How many dumb-bells should you 
use with this apparatus ? 

3. Describe the Third Home Chest 
Exercise, 

4. How far apart should the hands 
be held in this exercise ? 

5. How should the chin be held 
throughout this exercise ? 

6. How should you breathe while 
thus exercising ? 

7. How should the elbows be held ? 
. 8. How many times should this ex- 
ercise be practised each day the first 
week ? 

9. How many each day the second 
week ? 

10. How many daily after that? 



SECTION XI. 

RESULTS OF CHEST EXERCISE. 

After the first month, when your muscles have become a 
little used to active work, and are not afraid of it, it will be 
well to spend at each of these three Chest Exercises periods 
of even two minutes two or three times a day, or six min- 
utes in all. By doing this you will not only see, in less than 
a month, that your chest is getting larger and finer, but, 



THE CHEST. Ill 

however weak it may have been at first, you will be very like- 
ly to find, before even one year is over — especially if you prac- 
tise a few minutes of running or from half an hour to an hour 
of brisk walking every day, with the chin held up above the 
level, and breathing as slowly and fully as you can — that you 
are actually getting a good, if not even a fine, chest. You 
will also find that, instead of getting short of breath easily, 
when called on to make a vigorous effort — such as walking up 
two or three flights of stairs, or running to a boat or train — 
you can now keep your breath in for a long time, and do far 
more work than before. For, while getting your fore-arm, or 
the upper-back, or any other part strong is only making you 
strong in one or two places, this making the chest broad and 
deep and full tends directly to make you strong all OYer-— for 
you breathe larger breaths now than you used to do, and your 
heart has a larger house to work in, and does better work than 
when you had only a small and cramped chest. 

But this deep breathing and better heart-work make your 
blood flow better through your body and limbs, keeping the 
hands and feet warm, where often before they would have 
been cold, and making the stomach and other vital organs do 
their part with more vigor ; so that whatever kind of work 
we have to do, whether with body or mind, we find it is get- 
ting far easier to do it than formerly, and that we can stay 
longer at it without tiring. 

Questions. 

1. After the first month of active exercise, how long a time daily will 
it be well to give to each of* these three Chest Exercises ? 
3. "What effect will this likely bring, even in less than a month ? 

3. What before the end of a year ? 

4. What daily out-of-door exercise will greatly aid these Chest Exercises 
in bringing you a fine chest ? 

5. What effect will this work have upon your breathing ? 



112 SOUND BODIES FOR OUE BOYS AND GIELS. 

6. State the difference between making the fore-arm, or upper-back, 
or any part strong, and making the chest broad, deep, and full. 

7. Why does it thus tend to make you strong all over ? 

8. What effect have this deeper breathing and better heart-work on the 
circulation of the blood ? 

9. What effect on the hands and feet ? 

10. What effect on the vital organs ? 

11. What effect on our ability to do work of almost any kind ? 



REVIEW. 

1. What class of persons are likely to have the muscles across the up- 
per part of the front of the chest weak ? 

2. If the chest is well set and the arms are strong, how are these 
chest-muscles sure to be ? 

3. Why so? 

4. When you use either the biceps or the back-arm, what muscles on 
the chest do you at once set in action ? 

5. What good does it do to hold the chest out ? 

6. In what position do many people spend much of their time ? 

7. Name kinds of work in which this is the case. 

8. How do they breathe while at such work ? 

9. What organs take up most of the room in the chest ? 

10. If you give the lungs only half -work to do, what will be the result ? 

11. How does vigorous exercise cause us to breathe ? 

12. What does this breathing do to the lungs ? 

13. Do most boys and girls have these chest-muscles strong or weak ? 

14. Describe the First Chest Exercise. 

15. In what direction should you lower the dumb-bells in this exercise ? 

16. How far down should you lower them ? 

17. Name two good effects of this exercise. 

18. How should the dumb-bells be curled in the Second Chest Exercise ? 

19. How is the chest sure to be held during this exercise ? 

20. After the first week, how many times should you try to breathe 
during this exercise ? 

21. Repeat some of the advantages of deep breathing while exercising. 

22. How do you do the Third Chest Exercise ? 

23. How far down should jou lower your chest in this exercise ? 



THE CHEST. 113 

24. How can this same exercise be had at home ? 

25. Describe Half -dipping, 

26. Where does the weight rest in this exercise ? 

27. How low should you dip ? 

28. How should the feet be held ? 

29. Describe a dip. 

30. Tell its effect on the chest and shoulders. 

31. Name many other chest and shoulder exercises. 

32. What part of the body is the chest ? 

33. Name classes of persons who do little for their chest. 

34. What will much chest exercise do for any one ? 

35. Describe the First Home Chest Exercise. 

36. How should the elbows be held in this exercise ? 

37. What is the effect of this exercise on the chest ? 

38. How do you do the Second Home Chest Exercise ? 

39. How should the chest be held during it ? 

40. Describe the Third Home Chest Exercise. 

41. How far apart should the hands be held in it ? 

42. How should the chin be held ? 

43. After the first month, how long daily will it be well to practise each 
of these last three exercises ? 

44. What effect will this likely bring before the end of the year ? 

45. What daily out-door exercise will greatly aid these in bringing you 
a finer chest ? 

46. Which will make you stronger all over, making any muscle strong, 
or making the chest itself broad, deep, and full ? 

47. Why does it thus tend to make you strong all over ? 

48. What effect has it on the vital organs ? 

49. What effect on your ability to work ? 



114 SOUND BODIES FOE OUK BOYS AND GIRLS. 



PART VIIL— THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. 
SECTION I. 

SOME OF THE USES OF THESE MUSCLES. 

For only one other muscle, or, rather, pair of muscles, on 
the body will we have an exercise or two — namely, the layers 
or bands across the front of the waist known as the abdominal 
muscles. They are very important, not only helping us (with 
other muscles which lie at each side of them) to move the 
body in many ways, but, when made strong and kept so by 
daily exercise, greatly aiding the stomach, liver, kidneys, and 
bowels in doing their work, so helping to keep away dyspep- 
sia, inflammation of the bowels, and other disorders far too 
common in all civilized lands. 

These muscles help either to draw the body over forward, 
or to lift the legs upward. When lying on your back, you 
could not get up if these muscles did not help you to do so. 
Every time you lift your foot to walk you set them at work, 
and the higher you lift it — as, for instance, in jumping over a 
fence or other object, or in kicking a foot-ball — the more you 
give these muscles to do. If you are sitting on a chair, and 
lean forward over a desk to read or write, these are the mus- 
cles which draw you forward, or which, when you lean back, 
help keep you from falling over backward. 

A man sitting on a seat and swaying forward and back, as 
in rowing, sets these muscles hard at work. Indeed, no one 
will ever be a fast ^ower for a long distance without great 



THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. 115 

power in them ; for, however strong his back and legs may 
be, to do the hard pulling, if he is weak here, he cannot reach 
forward quickly enough to pull without soon getting tired 
right in this part, and having to stop. 

Whoever has these muscles small and weak will generally 
have a feeble gait, and will often lean foricard a little when 
walking, as if too loeak to stand up straight. But with a 
strong, high step, where, instead of lifting the heel only a 
little, and. walking almost flat-footed or shuffling along the 
ground, as so many poor walkers do, you push well with the 
toes and sole of the foot, just as it leaves the ground, thus 
raising the heel high, you will find that you are giving these 
muscles good work to do. You are also making it easier for 
you to walk erect as well. 

By thus walking erect you help keep your shoulders back, 
instead of pressing them over on your chest and cramping 
your breathing, so that when you have a long walk to take 
you do not get tired so easily as you would if you bent over 
more. One of the best walkers the world has yet seen — Dan- 
iel O'Leary — showed that he knew the advantage of thus step- 
ping high, and throwing his waist forward and shoulders well 
back when he walked, for, as will be seen in the picture of 
him. Fig. 41, his waist is the part of his body which is most 
forward as he steps. Walking six whole days, and often far 
into the night besides, he left many others behind in the race, 
nearly all of whom, as they grew tired, stooped more and more 
forward, while, no matter how tired O'Leary was, his shoulders 
were always held well back and low down, and his waist out 
full and forward. Of course, too, this aided his stomach and 
bowels to do their work far better than if he had cramped 
them by slouching forward, as his rivals did. 

Let us, then, try a little work for these very important 
muscles. 



116 



SOUND BODIES FOR CUB BOYS AND GIRLS. 



Questions. 

1. What are the mus- 
cles across the front 
of the waist called ? 

2. When they are 
daily made stronger 
by exercise, what vi- 
tal organs are aided ? 

3. What disorders 
will these exercises 
tend to keep away ? 

4. What are some 
of the uses of these 
muscles ? 

5. When lying on 
your back, what do 
they help you to do ? 

6. How does com- 
mon walking effect 
them? 

7. Name exercises 
which give them 
harder work to do. . 

8. In sitting at a 
desk to read or write, 
what part do these 
muscles do ? 

9. IsTame an exer- 
cise which sets them 
hard at work. 

10. What kind of abdominal muscles must any one have to be able to 
row fast over a long distance ? 

11. If these muscles are weak, how will a rower soon be affected ? 

12. If they are small and feeble, how will they affect a person's walk ? 

13. Describe a strong, high step, which will give them much to do. 

14. What effect does this erect walking have on your shoulders ? 

15. Which kind of walking is most likely to tire you ? 
10. Name a famous walker who always walks erect. 




THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. 117 

SECTION II. 
FIRST EXEECISE FOE THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. 

Directions. — 1. Stand with the chin held high up. 

2. Breathe slowly and very deeply. 

3. Raise the right knee till the right foot is about a foot 
above the floor. 

4. Then, giving a little spring with your left foot, raise it 
swiftly about a foot off the floor, at the same time putting 
your right foot down on the floor, but only its toe and sole, 
not its heel. 

5. Then spring and raise your right foot, again putting the 
left down, and so go on, turn about, until you have sprung in 
this way five times with each foot. 

Repeat this five times on each foot daily the first week, ten 
times on each foot daily the second week, and twenty times 
each day after that right along, and as many more as you can 
do with comfort. 

Not only does this coming down on your soles and toes both 
avoid noise and help make you light-footed and springy, but 
this raising of the knee at once sets the abdominal muscles 
actively at w;ork, and soon begins to bring it strength and 
size. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the First Exercise for the Abdominal Muscles. 

2. After thus raising the knee, how should the foot be put down ? 

3. How many times should each knee be thus raised daily the first 
week ? 

4. How many times daily the second week ? 

5. How many times each day after that ? 

6. What two things does this coming down on the soles and toes do ? 

7. What two effects does this raising of the knee have oii the abdomi- 
nal muscles ? 



118 



SOUND BODIES FOE OUE BOYS AND GIELS. 



SECTION III. 



SECOND EXEECISE FOE THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. 

Directions. — 1. Stand about six feet apart. 

2. Fold your arms behind you. 

3. Hold your chin up high. 

4. Breathe slowly and so deeply that you seem to fill with 
air, not only your lungs, but your whole body. 

5. Do not bend your knees. 

6. Hold your left foot far out in front of you, as in 
Fig. 42. 

7. Keep it there till you count five. 

8. Then lower it to the floor, and raise 
the right foot in the same way. 

9. Keep the shoulders as far back and 
as low down as possible. Indeed, not 
only in exercising, but always when sit- 
ting, standing, or walking, keep the shoul- 
ders down and far back, and the head up 
high. In this way you will all the time 
be making your chest fuller and more 
shapely, especially if you breathe as many 
deep, full breaths in a day as you can. 

10. Repeat this four times. 

Do this four times daily the first week 
with each foot, not bending either knee. 
The second week, do it six times a day, 
and after the second week ten times 
daily. 

Do this slowly and with care, and you 

will at once feel what good work it is 

Fig. 42. for these layers of muscle across the ab- 




THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. 119 

domen, while as a help to the right working of the vital or- 
gans within it is admirable. 

Observe two things in this exercise. First, let your head 
and shoulders drop far backward. Second, do not draw the 
toes of your front foot up towards you, but point them as far 
downward and outward as you can. 

Questions, 

1. Describe the Second Exercise for the Abdominal Muscles. 

2. How should the arms be held during this exercise ? 

3. How should the chin be held ? 

4. How should you breathe ? 

5. How long should the foot thus be held a foot above the floor ? • 

6. Should the knees be straight or bent ? 

7. How should your shoulders be held ? 

8. During the first week, how many times should this exercise be prac- 
tised with each foot ? 

9. How many the second week ? 

10. How many after that ? 

11. How should this exercise be done ? 

12. What muscles does it benefit ? 

13. What effect has it on the action of the vital organs ? 



SECTION IV. 

THE TOE-STKAPS. 

Directions. — 1. Take two pieces of common leather strap, 
each about six inches long ; screw them to the base-board of 
your room, about six inches from the floor and parallel with 
it ; leave each strap loose enough in the middle to let you put 
the toes and forward part of one of your feet in it. 

2. Sit facing these straps, on a stool or cassock about seven 
inches high, and put one foot in each strap. 

3. Keep your chin up high all the time. 

4. Fold your arms. 



120 



SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



5. Sway slowly forward till your head is over your knees, 
and then back till you feel yourself leaning backward, as in 



6. Bend your 
knees a little. 

7. So sway slow- 
ly back and forth, 
keeping the chin 
always pointing 
up, till you have 
rocked backward 
and forward ten 
times. 

Do this ten 




Fig, 43. 



times daily the first week, twenty times each day the second 
week, and thirty times daily after that, and, if you find that 
this number is not enough, then do as many more as you can 
with comfort. 

In rowing even a mile, one goes through this very rocking 
exercise from two hundred to four hundred times. So it will 
at once be seen how actively these muscles have to work in a 
row of many miles, such as fishermen often take every day. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the toe-straps, and how to rig them. 

2. Describe the exercise to be taken by means of these straps. 

3. How should the chin be held ? 

4. How many times should you thus rock daily the first week ? 

5. How many times each day the second week ? 

6. How many after that right along ? 

7. In rowing even one mile, how many times will one thus sway back 
and forth ? 

8. Name a class of men who give these muscles a great deal of hard 
work to do almost every day. 



THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. 121 

SECTION V. - 

VAEIOUS OTHER EXERCISES FOE THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. 

1. Just before rising in the morning, lie flat on your back, 
and, keeping your feet down, raise your head and body slowly 
till you are sitting up straight. Drop slowly down again, and 
rise as before. Do this three times each morning the first 
week, five times each morning the second week, and eight 
times daily after that. This sets the abdominal muscles hard 
at work, and makes them strong and useful, while it also helps 
make it easier than it used to he either to walk up straight or to 
run, jump, or row. 

2. Raise your feet up high, and keep your body down. 

3. Or run, lifting your knees well, and stepping high, like a 
spirited horse. 

4. Jumping, either along the ground, or over a fence, or 
other obstacle, is almost violent work for these muscles, and, 
practised a few minutes daily, would soon make them strong. 

5. So would swinging on a rope, bar, or rings, and holding 
your feet straight out in front of you, or out in front of you 
in any way. 

6. Or any other work that makes you hold one foot or both 
out in front of you, either for a little time or longer. 

7. So would 'hanging by the toes on a bar or trapeze. 

8. Lawn-tennis is fine work for these muscles. 

9. Kicking foot-ball is better yet. 

10. So is sitting across the parallel bars with the feet under 
the farther bar, and rocking backward and forward; especially 
if you let your body drop far down backward over the bar, 
and then raise it up straight again. But no one should try 
this who has not already strong abdominal muscles. 

11. Mowing with a scythe sets these muscles at work. 

12. So does horseback riding. 

6 



122 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

13. Or going up a rope hand over hand, with your feet out 
in front of you. 

14. Or lying on your back, taking a dumb-bell or other 
weight across your chest, right under your chin and in front 
of your neck, and rising with it till you are sitting up 
straight. 

These, and not a few other exercises, some one of which is 
within the reach of us all, are grand for the abdominal mus- 
cles, and will, by-and-by, build them up, adding strength and 
ease to your walk — indeed, to most of your movements. A 
person, also, who is strong in these muscles is far less likely 
to be injured by any sudden and violent effort, as, for example, 
so many cavalrymen are in war times, by hard horseback rid- 
ing, or as men unused to riding, when they suddenly take a 
day in the saddle. 

So far we have been looking at work which tended to con- 
tract these abdominal muscles. Some of the exercises which 
tend just the other way — namely, to stretch them out — are of 
equal value. Let us try one or two. 

Questions. 

I. Describe the exercise to be taken before rising in the morning. 
3. Which muscles does this exercise set at work ? 

3. What effect does it have upon them ? 

4. What else does it help to do ? 

5. Name various other exercises for the abdominal muscles. 

6. Which of these is almost violent work for these muscles ? 

7. In swinging on a rope, how should the feet be held in order to use 
these muscles ? 

8. What kind of mowing calls these muscles into action ? 

9. What kind of riding ? 

10. What exercise with the dumb-bells or other weight ? 

II. Are persons who are strong in these muscles likely to be injured 
by sudden and violent effort ? 



THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. 123 

SECTION VI. 

FIRST COUNTER- EXERCISE FOR THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. 

Directions. — 1. Stand with the chin up high. 

2. Hold the arms akimbo. 

3. Breathe slow, deep breaths. 

4. Advance the lef tf oot about eight inches in front of the right. 

5. Lean the head slowly backward till you get it down as 
far behind your back as you can. 

6. Hold it there till you slowly count five. 

7. Then rise up straight again. 

8. Repeat this five times. 

Why, that was the first exercise in the book — the one for 
making you straight. 

Certainly. And again we see that many of these exercises 
take hold, not of one muscle only, but of many, and do good 
to several parts at the same time. 

Now tip back in that way five times daily the first week, ten 
times a day the second week, and twenty times daily after that. 

This is good work to help straighten stooping or crooked peo- 
ple, hence should be practised by persons who sit many hours a 
day, as they are seldom erect, either when standing or sitting. 

Questions. 

1. What effect have these exercises thus far had on the abdominal 
muscles ? 

2. Describe the First Counter-Exercise for the Abdominal Muscles. 
8. How should the chin be held ? 

4. How should you breathe during this exercise ? 

5. How far backward should you lean the head ? 

6. How many times should you thus tip backward daily the first week? 

7. How many times each day the second week ? 

8. How many times daily after that ? 

9. Name a class of persons for whom this is a good exercise. 



124 



SOUND BODIES FOE OUR BOYS AND GIELS. 



SECTION YII. 



SECOND COUNTER - EXERCISE FOR THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. 

Directions. — 1. Face tlie wall, standing about fifteen inches 
from it. 

2. Place the hands on the wall right in front of you as high 
as you can reach, and about two 
feet apart, with the elbows straight, 
as in Fig. 44. 

3. Now turn the chin upward 
till you face the ceiling overhead, 
and keep it so. 

4. Breathe slowly a very deep 
breath, and hold it. 

5. Bend your elbows, and let 
your body go slowly forward till 
your chest touches the wall, keep- 
ing your body and legs stiff and 
straight all the time. 

6. Then push back till you are 
up straight again. 

7. Do not take your heels off the 
floor, or your eyes off the ceiling 
right overhead, or your hands off 
the wall. 

8. Do this seven times. 



Repeat this pushing seven times 
^^' **■ daily the first week, twelve times a 

day the second week, and fifteen times daily after that. 

This is even better work than the last to help make people 
straight, while it expands their chests at the same time. It is 
also a capital exercise for the home. 




THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. 125 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Second Counter-Exercise for the Abdominal Muscles. 

2. How far should you stand from the wall ? 

3. How should the body and legs be held during this exercise ? 

4. On what should the eyes be fixed ? 

5. How should the heels be held ? 

6. How many times should you thus push daily the first week ? 

7. How many times each day the second week ? 

8. How many times daily after that ? 

9. Name two good results of this kind of work. 



SECTION yiii. 

A VARIETY OF COUNTER - EXERCISES FOR THE ABDOMINAL 

MUSCLES. 

The boys and girls in our schools sit from three to five 
hours a day. After they leave school they will find that they 
are sitting, as their fathers and mothers do, from six to twelve 
hours a day, and often even longer yet. Most of them do not 
sit up straight, but lean over more or less, and thus cramp the 
abdomen and the vital organs within. 

Hence these Counter-Exercises for the Abdominal Muscles 
are of great value, tending to cure this habit of stooping over, 
and to keep these muscles where they belong. Here are other 
exercises which tend in the same way : 

1. Chopping wood with an axe. 

2. Swinging the blacksmith's sledge, or the ship-carpenter's adze. 

3. Putting up dumb-bells. 

4. Trying how high you can reach, 

5. Or can jump up and reach. 

6. Swinging on the rings, or bar, or trapeze. 

7. Pulling yourself up on the bar till your chin touches it. 

8. Hauling on a rope where you reach your hands upward. 

9. About all work on the high parallel bars. 
10. Going up a rope or pole hand over hand. 



126 SOUND BODIES FOE OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

11. Drawing the head and body hack in hoxing to avoid or to 

strike a blow. 

12. Playing at lawn-tennis. 

13. Swinging clubs. 

14. Standing with back to the pulley-weights, and raising the 

handles, first high up overhead, and then pushing them far 
out in front of you. 

15. Lathing, plastering, or painting a ceiling. 

16. Swimming. 

17. Fencing. 

18. Single stick. 

Anything, in short, whicli causes you to draw the head and 
shoulders backward, and to do it many times, or to hold them 
SO, will stretch and benefit these abdominal muscles. 

We are through with the muscles of the arms, also of the 
neck, back, chest — indeed, of the entire body. We have seen 
how the arms and body work together, and that if we make 
almost any part of either strong, it is sure to do the same for 
some part of the other. 

There remain muscles more important than those of our 
arms — indeed, without which our arms and bodies would be 
well-nigh useless to us, for we could not move about without 
being carried — namely, the muscles of the legs. 

We shall have exercises for the front of the thigh, the under- 
thigh, and the calf, or leg below the knee ; and, as with the 
arm-work, we shall see that many exercises for the legs also 
help directly to build up some of the muscles of the body. 

Questions. 

1. How do boys and girls sit for many hours each day ? 

2. How does this leaning forward tend to injure them ? 

3. What do these Counter-Exercises do for them ? 

4. Name a variety of these Counter-Exercises. 

5. If we make any part of the body strong by exercise, what is this 
almost sure to do for some other part ? 



THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. 127 



REVIEW. 

1. Wtieii the abdominal muscles are made strong by sensible exercise, 
what vital organs are benefited ? 

2. What disorders will these exercises tend to prevent ? 

3. What are some of the uses of these muscles ? 

4. When lying down on your back, what do these muscles help you do? 

5. How does ordinary stepping affect them ? 

6. What part do they do when you are sitting down ? 

7. Name an exercise which sets them hard at work. 

8. What kind of abdominal muscles must one have to be able to row 
fast over a long distance ? 

9. If these muscles are small and feeble, what effect have they on a 
person's walk ? 

10. Describe a strong, hiijh step, which will give these muscles much 
to do. 

11. Which tires you more quickly, walking erect, or leaning forward 
somewhat ? 

12. Name a famous walker who always walks up straight. 

13. Name the principal points in his walking. 

14. Describe the First Exercise for the Abdominal Muscles. 

15. What two effects does this raising of the knee have on the abdomi- 
nal muscles ? 

16. How do you do the Second Exercise for the Abdominal Muscles ? 

17. Describe the exercise to be taken with the toe-straps. 

18. Even in rowing one mile, how many times will a person thus sway 
back and forth ? 

19. Name various other exercises for the abdominal muscles. 

20. In swinging on a rope, how should the feet be held in order to use 
these muscles ? 

21. Describe the First Counter-Exercise for the Abdominal Muscles. 

22. For what persons is this a good exercise ? 

23. How do you do the Second Counter - Exercise for the Abdominal 
Muscles ? 

24. Name two good results of this kind of work. 

25. How do boys and girls sit for many hours each day ? 

26. How does this leaning forward tend to injure them ? 

27. What will be the effect of these Counter-Exercises ? 

28. Name a variety of these Counter-Exercises. 



128 



SOUND BODIES FOB OUB BOYS AND GIBLS. 



PART IX.— THE FRONT OF THE THIGH. 



SECTION I. 

FIEST FKONT- OF -THE -THIGH EXEECISE. 

Bend your knees even the least bit, whether yon are stand- 
ing, walking, running, dancing, skating, vaulting, jumping, lift- 
ing, or stooping, and at once the muscles on the front of the 
thigh are in action. At all times of the day, then, save when 
you are sitting, lying down, or standing still, they are busy ; 
when you walk slowly or languidly, however, you do not work 
them hard enough to do them much good, or to give them near- 
ly the size and power which brisk walking would bring to them. 



Directions. — 1. Stand with the chin up high. 

2. Fold the arms tightly behind you. 

3. Place one foot about ten inches in front 
of the other. 

4. Breathe three slow, deep breaths be- 
fore beginning ; then keep on breathing 
slowly and deeply all the time you are at 
this work, and for at least a minute after- 
wards. 

5. . Now slowly bend the knees till your 
head is six inches lower than when you 
were standing up, as in Fig. 45. 

6. Then rise till you are straight again. 

V. Do this ten times. 

So stoop and rise ten times each day the 




Fig. 45. 



THE FRONT OF THE THIGH. 129 

first week, fifteen times daily the second week, and twenty-five 
times a day after that right along. 

Do not let your heels touch the floor during any part of 
this exercise, nor lift the feet wholly off the floor. You will 
soon find that this is setting the front of each thigh at work. 

Questions. 

1. Name many movements which at once set the muscles on the front 
of the thigh in action ? 

2. Which makes those muscles stronger, slow or brisk walking ? 

3. Describe the First Front-of-the-thigh Exercise. 

4. How many breaths, and of what kind, should first be taken ? 

5. How should the knees be bent in this exercise ? 

6. How many times should you thus stoop and rise daily each week ? 

7. How should the heels be held ? 

8. What parts will this exercise be found to call into action ? 



SECTION II. 

SECOND FKONT- OF -THE -THIGH EXEECISE. 

Directions. — 1. Stand with the chin up high. 

2. Hold your shoulders far back and low down, and your 
elbows and hands as in Fig. 46. 

3. Breathe three slow, deep breaths before beginning, as in 
the last exercise, placing your left foot about fifteen inches 
forward of your right. 

4. Do not let your heels touch the floor at all. 

5. Bending your knees slowly, and stooping only a little, 
now spring smartly upward, and at the same time bring your 
left foot backward and your right foot forward, landing with 
each foot on your toes and soles only, as in Fig. 46. 

6. Then spring back again till your left foot is forward and 
your right backward, as at the start. 

T. Repeat this six times. 

Do it six times daily the first week, ten times daily the 

6"^ 



130 



SOUND BODIES FOE OUK BOYS AND GIELS. 



second week, and fifteen times each day after that right 

along. 

This will not only 

soon bring strength and 
size to the front of the 
thigh, but it is excellent 
to make one springy 
and light of foot, while 
it helps strengthen the 
muscles at the sides of 
the waist and the ab- 
dominal muscles, and so 
to bring a firmer and 
more erect carriage of 
the body. Also, should 
you chance at any time 
to fall from a height, or 
to spring suddenly out 
of acarriage,the getting 
these springing muscles 
strong and well-knit, 
and used to vigorous 
work, makes you far 
less liable to injury. 




Fig. 46. 



Questions. 

1. Describe the Second Front-of-tlie-tliigh. Exercise. 

2. How should the feet be held in this exercise ? 

3. How often should the heels touch the floor ? 

4. How many times should you thus spring daily each week ? 

5. To what part does this work bring strength and size ? 

6. Does it tend to make one light-footed or clumsy ? 

7. What muscles of the body does it help to strengthen ? 

8. What effect has it on the carriage of the body ? 

9. If you have made these front muscles of the thigh large and strong, 
how will a fall from a high place be likely to affect you ? 



THE FRONT OF THE THIGH. 



131 



SECTIOK III. 

THIED FEONT- OF -THE -THIGH EXERCISE. 

Directions. — 1. Stand with tlie chin up high. 

2. Put one hand on the desk or wall to steady yourself. 

3. Breathing slowly and deeply, hold your left foot out in 
front of you a few inches above the floor, and gradually bend 
your right knee and lower till you are half-way to the floor, as 
in Fig. 47; for if you go all the way down it will be too hard 
for many of you at first. 

4. Then rise 
slowly till you 
are up straight 
again. 

5. This time 
extend your 
right foot in 
front of you, 
and gradually 
bend the left 
knee, settling 
down till you 
are half-way to 
the floor. 

6. Then' rise 
again. 

7. Do this 
three times. 



Do this three 
times on each 




Fig. 47. 



foot daily the first week, five times each day the second week, 
and seven times daily after that right along. Do it as many 
more times, mornings and evenings, as you can with ease. 



132 SOUND BODIES FOB OUK BOYS AND GIRLS, 

If you find that you can do it more times on one foot than 
on the other, confine your home-work to the foot on which 
you are poorest at it, until you can do as many with that foot 
as with the other, which will likely be in a very few weeks. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Third Front-of-the-thigh Exercise. 

2. How should the chin be held always in this exercise ? 

3. How should you breathe ? 

4. How high off the floor should the foot which is held in front be in 
this exercise ? 

5. How low down should you stoop ? 

6. Why not stoop as low as you can ? 

7. How should you rise again, slowly or rapidly ? 

8. How many times daily should this be done each week ? 

9. How many times daily at home ? 

10. If you find that you can do this exercise more times with one foot 
than with the other, what should you do ? 



SECTION IV. 

FOUETH FJRONT- OF -THE -THIGH EXERCISE. 

- Directions. — 1. Stand with the chin up high, the heels to- 
gether, and the toes turned outward. 

2. Breathing deeply and slowly, bend your knees, and stoop 
till you are nearly half-way to the floor ; then spring straight 
upward, till your feet are off the floor six inches or more. 

3. Never, in any part of this exercise, touch the floor with 
your heels, but start on your toes, bend on your toes, spring 
on your toes, and land on your toes. Landing on your heels 
is clumsy and noisy. 

4. Both spring and land as lightly and quietly as you can. 
Persons with strong and fine legs are seldom noisy on their feet. 

5. Repeat this four times. 



THE FRONT OF THE THIGH. 133 

Practise this exercise four times daily the first week, six 
times each day the second week, and ten times daily after that. 

This will do for the Front -of -the -thigh Exercises, unless 
there is a spring-board in the school. If so, then you have a 
grand aid to making First, Second, and Third Exercises far 
easier than when done on the firm floor, for the spring of the 
board makes them very pleasant. There is no way in which 
you can spring from the floor, ground, or spring-board — in- 
deed, from anything on which you can stand — which does not 
help build up the front of your thighs. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Fourth Front-of-the-thigh Exercise. 

2. How should you stand in this exercise ? 

3. How should you breathe ? 

4. In what part of this exercise should your heels touch the floor ? 

5. How should you both spring and land ? 

6. How many times daily should this exercise be practised each week ? 

7. What piece of apparatus is a great aid to the First, Second, and 
Thu'd Front-of-the-thigh Exercises ? 



SECTION V. 

FIFTH FRONT - OF - THE - THIGH EXERCISE, OR RUNNING. 

Directions. — In running (which is an exercise for out-doors, 
rather than the school-room), 

1. Always hold the chin up above the level. 

2. Never touch either heel to the ground. 

3. Keep your hands shut and your elbows bent till your 
hands are about level with your waist ; then swing your arms 
easily, not stiffly, at your sides. 

4. As much as you can, breathe through the nose only, and 
make each breath as slow, deep, and full as possible. 

5. Step far out forward, but do not throw the foot up high 



134 SOUND BODIES FOR OUK BOYS AND GIELS. 

behind. Myers, the fastest half-mile runner in America, steps 
seven feet four inches at each stride. 

6. In running for exercise, and to develop the legs and 
lungs, do not run as fast as you can, but a little slower than 
that ; for you will find that by doing so you will not tire so 
quickly, and will get the good of running, yet avoid its risks. 

7. At first run slowly and only as far as you can with com- 
fort, even though it is not over a hundred yards. For, remem- 
ber that the object of these exercises is not to make racers and 
enable pupils to parade, but to make them strong, vigorous, 
and well-built, so that they are likely to become healthy and 
useful men and women. 

Each day the first week run as far as you did the first day. 
The next week try to run twice as far each day, and after that 
run daily as far as you can with comfort. 

Never run fast within half an hour after a meal. Perhaps 
as good a time as any for running is about an hour or an hour 
and a half before eating. If you run or exercise in any other 
way till you perspire, you should at once, after exercising, rub 
the skin briskly with a coarse towel, and then put on a dry 
under-shirt. This will keep you from taking cold. 

Questions. 

1. How should the chin he held in running ? 

2. What part of the foot should not touch the ground in this exercise ? 

3. How should the hands and arms he held ? 

4. How should you breathe ? 

5. How far forward should you step ? 

6. Should the foot be thrown far backward ? 

7. How fast should you run ? 

8. How far should you run daily each week ? 

9. When should you not run ? 

10. When is a good time to run ? 

11. If you run or exercise in any other way till you perspire, what 
should you do to avoid taking cold ? 



THE FEONT OF THE THIGH. 135 

SECTION VI. 

VARIETY OF EXERCISES FOR THE FRONT OF THE THIGH. 

After you have practised the above five exercises for a 
month in the way pointed out, if you have a spring-board, just 
get on it and dance, or spring, or turn about any way you like, 
either on one foot or on both feet, so long as you bend your 
knees and do not touch your heels. Keep at this as long each 
day as you can with comfort, springing always as lightly and 
quietly as possible, and you will soon be astonished at the 
effect it has on your thighs, even though you do not spring 
or dance more than five minutes a day. Indeed, if you keep 
at it steadily and vigorously, by the third month you will find 
you can go almost twice as high at each spring as you did 
when you began, yet with no more effort. 

Among other exercises for the front of the thigh are the 
following : 

1. Strong, vigorous walking every day, till you are just beginning 

to get tired, the chin always held up above the level, is capi- 
tal for the front of the thighs. 

2. Slow, easy running for a long distance, is better yet for these 

great muscles of the thighs, or brisk running for a short dis- 
tance, though this will not bring the size and power of thigh 
which long-distance running will. 

3. Walking or running up-stairs or up-hill. 

4. Running down-stairs on your toes. 

5. Skating, either fast or far. 

6. Vaulting. 

7. Jumping— upward or downward. 

8. Leaping — forward, backward, or sideways. 

9. Dancing. 

10. Riding on a bicycle or a velocipede. 

11. Hopping. 

12. Riding horseback. 

13. Playing lawn-tennis. 



136 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

14. Lifting weights from the floor or ground. 

15. Walking with a sack of grain, salt, or shot, or a boy, or other 

heavy weight on your back. 

16. Walking on a treadmill, as Rowell, the noted pedestrian, is said 

to have done to help build up his great thighs, so that he could 
so often win the terrible six-day "go-as-you-please" races. 

17. Eowing, especially where your seat slides back and forth, and 

you push hard with your feet. 

18. Pulling in the tug-of-war. 

19. Any kind of wrestling. 

One thing should be kept in mind — namely, that a walk now 
and then, at an easy pace and not very far, does but little for 
the legs. To have walking make the thighs larger and stronger 
you must, first, walk briskly ; second, walk a good distance ; 
third, walk every day, or as nearly every day as you can. It 
is this brisk and steady^ though not violent^ worJc^ and plenty 
of it, which pays when you wish to bring your muscles into 
action^ lohether of the thighs, armSy bacJc, or any part, not the 
now-and-then, aimless, languid kind. 

Questions. 

I. How can you use the spring-board so as to aid greatly in making 
the front of the thighs larger and stronger ? 

3. How long each day should you use the spring-board ? 

3. What result may you expect by the third month, if you have worked 
thus steadily and vigorously ? 

4. Name a variety of other exercises for the front of the thigh. 

5. What kind of walking is good for the front of the thighs ? 

6. How long should such walking be kept up ? 

7. How should the chin be held in this walking ? 

8. What kind of running is good for the front of the thighs ? 

9. What kind of jumping ? 

10. What kind of riding ? 

II. Does occasional and easy walking do the legs much good ? 

12. Name three things you must do in walking in order to make the 
thighs larger and stronger. 

13, What kind of work is best for any of the muscles ? 



THE FEONT OF THE THIGH. 137 

EEVIEW. 

1. Mention different exercises whicli at once set tlie muscles on tlie 
front of the thigh in action. 

2. Which makes these muscles stronger, languid and easy walking, or 
vigorous and rapid walking ? 

3. Describe the First Upper-thigh Exercise. 

4. How do you do the Second Upper-thigh Exercise ? 

5. To what parts does this work bring strength and size ? 

6. Does it tend to make one light-footed or clumsy ? 

7. What muscles on the body does it tend to strengthen ? 

8. What effect has it on the carriage of the body ? 

9. How do you do the Third Front-of-the-thigh Exercise ? 

10. How do you do the Fourth Front-of-the-Thigh Exercise ? 

11. In what part of this exercise should the heels touch the floor ? 

12. If you land on your heels, what will the effect be ? 

13. How should you both spring and land ? 

14. How should you hold the chin in running ? 

15. How should the hands and arms be held ? 

16. What part of the foot should not touch the ground in running ? 

17. How should you breathe ? 

18. How far forward should you step ? 

19. Should the foot be thrown far backward ? 

20. If you run or exercise in any other way till you perspire, what 
should you do to avoid taking cold ? 

21. How fast should you run ? 

22. How far should you run daily each week ? 

23. When should you not run ? 

24. When is a good time to run ? 

25. Name a variety of other exercises for the front of the thighs. 

26. How can you use the spring-board so as to aid in making the front 
of the thighs larger and stronger ? 

27. What kind of walking does little for the front of the thighs ? 

28. And what kind of wrestling ? 

29. What kind of rowing ? 

30. Name three things you must do in walking in order to make the 
thighs larger and stronger. 

31. What kind of work is best for any of the muscles ? 



138 SOUND BODIES FOB OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



PART X.— THE UNDER SIDE OF THE THIGH. 
SECTION I. 

FIRST UNDER -SIDE -OF -THE -THIGH EXERCISE. 

Persons wlio never walk with their knees straight, but al- 
ways somewhat bent — and there are more such, even among 
boys and girls, than many think — are almost sure to be weak 
and small in the muscle of the under or back part of the thigh; 
while they who walk always erect, with the knees well-knit, 
and sprung somewhat backward, are very apt to have good- 
sized and well-shaped muscles on the under-thighs, and a ful- 
ness instead of thinness on this part of the legs. 

The work of this under-tliigh muscle is not unlike that of 
the biceps of the arm — indeed, biceps is part of the Latin 
name of it. The biceps bends the arm at the elbow, and 
helps draw the hand up towards the body. So the muscle of 
the under-thigh helps to bend the knee, and to draw the heel 
up towards the body. If one had any work which caused him 
to lift his heels up much behind him, such as tying a weight 
to the ankle and then lifting it up backward many times, he 
would find that if any muscle ached next morning from over- 
work it would be this one of the under-thigh. 

Let us, then, try one or two kinds of work for this muscle. 

Directions. — 1. Stand about three feet apart in a row about 
a foot from the side-wall of the room, and with your back 
towards the side-wall. 

2. Hold your arms behind you, and your chin up. 



THE UNDER SIDE OF THE THIGH. 



139 



3. Place the right heel against the 
wall, about three inches above the floor. 

4. Push with the right heel hard 
against the wall, as in Fig. 48, until 
you slowly count ten. 

5. Then set your right foot on the 
floor, and put your left heel against the 
wall. 

6. Push in the same way with it till 
you slowly count ten. 

7. Do the san>e again with your right 
heel, and so on, turn about, till you have 
pushed five times with each foot. 

So push five times daily the first week, 
ten such daily the second week without 
stopping, and fifteen daily after that. 

Questions. 

1. What persons are almost sure to be weak 
in the under muscles of the thighs ? 

2. What persons are likely to have these 
muscles good-sized and well-shaped ? 

3. What part of the arm does this under-thigh work resemble ? 

4. What does the biceps muscle do to the arm ? 

5. What muscles bend the knee ? 

6. What kind of work takes hold directly of these muscles ? 

7. Describe the First Under-side-of-the-thigh Exercise, 

8. How near the wall should the back be held in this exercise ? 

9. How should the right heel be held ? 

10. How high above the flo'or ? 

11. How long should you so push with each foot ? 

12. How many times should you so push daily with each foot the first 
week ? 

13. How many each day the second week ? 

14. How many daily after that ? 




Fis. 48. 



140 



SOUND BODIES FOK OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



SECTION II. 

SECOND UNDER -SIDE -OF -THE -THIGH EXERCISE. 

Directions. — 1. Stand in the aisle, with chin high, and the 
hands as high overhead as you can. 
2. Take a deep breath. 

3. Hold the knees stiff and 
straight all the time. 

4. Now bring your hands over 
down in front of you, keeping 
the elbows also straight, until 
you touch the floor with your 
fingers, or go as low as you can, 
as in Fig. 49. 

5. Rise up straight again, and 
rest a moment. 

6. Now, without bending the 
knees, and with straight elbows, 
again touch the floor with your 
fingers, or go as low as you can, 
and again rise. 

p. ^ ^^ 7. Repeat this three times. 

Do this three times daily the first week, five times each day 
the second week, and eight times daily after that. 

If you bend your knees at all you will get little good from 
this exercise. They should be held rigidly straight. Take 
care also to keep the elbows straight. 

This exercise will not 'only help give you good under-thighs, 
but will also aid much m maMng you loalk up straight, icith 
a finn step, instead of a weak one. Some persons can touch 
nearly the whole hands to the floor in this way without bend- 
ing their knees. 




THE UNDEE SIDE OF THE THIGH. 



141 



Questions. 

1. Describe the Second Under-side-of-tlie-thigli Exercise. 

2. How should the knees be kept during this exercise ? 

3. How the elbows ? 

4. How low down should you reach with your fingers in this exercise ? 

5. How many times a day should it be done during the first week ? 

6. How many times daily the second week ? 

7. How many times each day after that ? 

8. Besides helping to give you good under-thighs, how else will this 
exercise do you good ? 



SECTIOK m. 

THIRD UNDER -SIDE -OF -THE -THIGH EXERCISE. 



Directions. — 1. With 
a strap or towel, tie a 
dumb-bell to the back 
of your right ankle. 

2. Stand with arms 
folded behind you. 

3. Hold the chin up 
high. 

4. Breathe slowly and 
deeply. 

5. N'ow slowly raise 
your right heel behind 
you till it is as high as 
your left knee, as in 
Fig. 50. 

6. Then slowly lower 
your right foot to the 
floor. 

So raise the dumb- 
bell behind you with 
your right foot five 




Fig. 50. 



142 



SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



times. Then fasten the dumb-bell to your left foot, and raise 
it slowly five times in the same way. Breathe deeply and 
slowly all the time. 

Lift the dumb-bell in this way five times with each foot 
daily the first week, eight times daily with each foot the second 
week, and as many each day after that as you can with ease. 

Many other exercises for the under part of the thigh may 
be given. Such are — 

1. Walking up-hill. 

2. Running slowly up-hill. 

3. Running on level ground, but throwing the heel high up be- 

hind at each step, as in Fig. 51. 

4. Running backward. 

Hopping on one foot, 

and carrying a 
dumb-bell or other 
weight held up be- 
hind you on the 
other. 

Putting your foot in 
the handle of a 
shoulder-weight, and 
pulling it downward 
many times. 

Or strapping your foot 
to the handle of the 
rowing - weight, and 
drawing it out back- 
ward many times. 

Hanging by the heels 
on the rung of a lad- 
der, on a trapeze, or 
on a rope. 

Jumping frequently 
over any object near- 
ly or quite as high as 
you can clear. 




THE UNDER SIDE OF THE THIGH. 143 

10. Hurdle-racing on foot. 

11. Jumping directly upward, as high as you can, in trying to see 

how high you can touch with your hand, as to catch a bar 
or the branch of a tree. 

12. In short, any exercise which makes you either draw one or 

both heels up vigorously and often, or keeps them up, gives 
these muscles of the under -thighs good work to do, and, 
steadily practised, will, ere many months, go far towards 
making the under-thighs strong, of good size, and well-shaped. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Third Under-side-of-the-thigh Exercise. 

2. How high should the heel, with the dumb-bell on it, be raised in 
this exercise ? 

3. Should the foot be raised and lowered slowly or quickly in this 
work ? 

4. How many times daily the first week should this exercise be done 
with each foot ? 

5. How many times each day the second week ? 

6. How many times each day after that ? 

7. Name various other exercises which all help make the under-thighs 
strong and of good size and shape. 

8. How should the dumb-bell be held when you hop in one of these 
exercises ? 

9. What kinds of jumping develops this muscle ? 



144 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIELS. 



PART XI.— THE LEG BELOW THE KNEE. 
SECTION I. 

WORK FOE THE Le5 BELOW THE KNEE. 

The muscles of the calf of the leg raise the heel. You can 
scarcely take a step without using them somewhat. But where 
you walk in such a way as to lift your heel but little at each 
step, you not only acquire an 'awkward step and gait, but, if 
not stopped, will tend, by-and-by, to make the calves thin and 
weak, if they are not so already, and the foot flat as well. On 
the other hand, whoever, in walking, always raises the heel 
high before the sole and toes of the foot leave the ground, 
and pushes hard with the sole and toes as the foot leaves the 
ground, is helping to make the calves large and strong, and 
well-shaped besides. 

Of two brothers — -'growing boys — well known to the writer, 
the older one did not use his toes and soles very much in 
walking ; but the other, whether standing, walking, or run- 
ning, was always on his toes, till it seemed almost as if he 
could not put his heels down if he wanted to. Well, the first 
had fair calves and rather thin thighs ; but the other had 
beautiful calves, round, full, and remarkably well -shaped, 
much finer than any other bo,y of his age in the neighbor- 
hood. And he always carried his knees sprung well back, 
and was very graceful on his feet and in nearly all his move- 
ments. 



THE LEG. 



145 



Questions. 

1. What muscles raise the heel ? 

2. If you raise your heels only a little when you walk, what effect will 
it have on your walk ? 

3. How will it tend to affect the legs ? 

4. What does raising the heels high and pushing hard with the toes 
and soles in walking do for the calves ? 

5. Describe the difference between the ways of walking of the two 
brothers mentioned above. 

6. Which had the stronger and more shapely leg ? 

7. Which was the more graceful on his feet, and in nearly all his move- 
ments ? 



SECTION II. 

FIRST BELOW-THE-KNEE EXEECISE. 

Directions. — 1. Stand with chin up high, 
heels together, toes turned out, and arms 
folded. 

2. Breathe several deep, full breaths, till 
your chest is filled out in every corner, as 
large as you can swell it, and keep on 
breathing so throughout the exercise. 

3. Now rise slowly on your toes, till your 
heels are as high off the floor as you can get 
them without lifting your toes, as in Fig. 52. 

4. Then lower your heels slowly, till they 
are on the floor again. 

5. Repeat this fifteen times. 

So rise fifteen times a day the first week, 
twenty-five times daily the second week, and 
as many times each day after that as you 
can comfortably. 

It will not be strange if a few minutes of 

1 




146 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

this exercise eacli day will, in a few months, and often in less 
time, increase the girth of each calf all of an inch, especially 
if the person was not much used before to active work on the 
soles and toes. 

Daily active use of these muscles goes far towards giving 
one a springy^ elastic step, and helps to make walking an easy 
and pleasant matter. This is also a capital morning and even- 
ing exercise in one's room. 

Questions, 

1. Describe the First Below-the-knee Exercise. 

2. How should the feet he held in this exercise ? 

3. How should the chin be held ? 

4. How should you breathe ? 

5. How high should you raise your heels ? 

6. Slowly or quickly ? 

7. Should the toes come off the floor ? 

8. How many times should this be done daily each week ? 

9. How much gain in the girth of the calf may often be had in a few 
months by practising this exercise even a few minutes each day ? 

10. What effect will daily active use of these muscles of the calves 
have on the step ? 



SECTION III. 

SECOND BELOW-THE-KNEE EXERCISE. 

Directions. — 1. Stand erect. 

2. Breathe deep, full breaths, both before and in the exer- 
cise. 

3. Raising the right foot, hop straight upward with the left 
foot, never touching the left heel to the floor, either when you 
spring or when you land, as in Fig. 52. 

4. Then raise the left foot, and hop once in the same way 
with your right foot. 

5. Repeat this ten times. 



THE LEG. 147 

Hop in this way ten times on each foot daily during the 
first week, fifteen times a day the second week, and twenty- 
five times daily after that. 

This work will not only rapidly strengthen and fill out the 
muscles of the calves, but those of the front of the thighs as 
well, while it also calls those of the sides and front of the 
waist into active play. 

Questions. 

1. Describe tlie Second Below-the-knee Exercise. 

2. How should the chin be held ? 

3. How should the breathing be in this as compared with the last exer- 
cise ? 

4. In what direction should you hop in this exercise ? 

5. How often should the hopping heel touch the floor ? 

6. How many such hops should you take daily each week ? 

7. State what parts this work will rapidly strengthen and enlarge. 



SECTION lY. 

THIRD BELOW-THE-KNEE EXERCISE. 

Directions. — 1. Stand erect. 

2. Hold the chin up high. 

3. Breathe large, deep breaths. 

4. Raise the left foot off the floor, and hold it about half as 
high as the right knee. 

5. Now raise the right heel slowly as high as you can, 
without taking the toes of the right foot off the floor. 

6. Stand thus on your right toes and the sole of your right 
foot (as in Fig. 53) till you count five. 

7. Then slowly lower your right heel till it is on the floor. 

8. So raise and lower your right heel again three times. 
Then change to the left foot, and raise and lower the left heel 
in the same way three times, keeping the right foot wholly off 
the floor. 



148 



SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



Do this three times, on each 
foot, daily the first week, five 
times each day the second week, 
and eight times a day after that 
right along. 

A very little of this work ev- 
ery day during the first month 
— with most persons less than a 
minute at it — will prove quite 
as hard as they will want. But 
it is admirable for the muscles 
below the knee, throwing the 
whole weight, as it does, first 
on the calf of one leg, then of 
the other. Hence it is especial- 
ly useful in bringing up one 
leg which is weak so that, be- 
low the knee, it shall be equal 
in size to the other. For many 
boys and men — indeed, most of 
them — when kicking foot-ball, 

or doing any other work where only one foot is used, work 

mostly with the right foot, and so make the right leg the larger 

and stronger. 

This raising, then, on the left foot many times each day 

would be just what such persons need to make the left leg as 

large and strong as the right. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Third Below-the-knee Exercise. 

2. How high should the left foot be held in this exercise while you are 
standing on your right foot ? 

3. How high should you raise the right heel while standing on the 
right foot ? 




Fig. 53. 



THE LEG. 149 

4. Should you raise and lower the heel quickly or slowly ? 

5. How many times should this be done daily each week ? 

6. How long a time each day at this work will prove quite enough for 
most persons ? 

7. What part does this exercise greatly benefit ? 

8. Why does it so benefit the calves ? 

9. Are most persons right-footed as well as right-handed ? 

10. What effect has this greater use of the right foot generally on the 
size of the right leg ? 

11. What should be done, then, in case one leg measures more below 
the knee than the other ? 



SECTION V. 

FOURTH BELOW -THE -KNEE EXERCISE. 

Directions. — 1. Stand in the aisle, with arms akimbo and 
chin up high, 

2. Breathe deeply and slowly. 

3. Hold the left foot half as high as the right knee. 

4. Hop forward on the right foot to the head of the aisle, 
turn, and hop down the next aisle ; then back up the first one 
till you reach the starting-point. 

5. Rest a moment till you get your breath. 

6. Then hop over the same distance again, only this time 
on the left foot. 

Hop this distance on each foot daily the first week, twice 
over the same distance on each foot daily the second week, 
and three times over it daily after that. 

If you have small and feeble calves, you may find that you 
cannot at first hop so far -as once around two aisles in the way 
just shown. In that case, hop as far with the right foot as 
you can with comfort, and then stop. Then go only that same 
distance with the left. The second week you will find that it 
will come easier, hence you can increase the distance ; and so 



150 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

after that, whatever you can take with comfort, for it never 
pays to overdo. 

After the first month at these exercises, we can try one or 
two harder ones. We will have only two more in-door exer- 
cises for the calves, which, though simple, are sure to tell even 
more vigorously on these same useful muscles. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Fourth Below-the-knee Exercise. 

2. How should the chin and arms be held in this exercise ? 

3. How should you breathe ? 

4. How high should the left knee be held while the right foot is hop- 
ping ? 

5. How far will be a good distance to hop daily on each foot during 
the first week ? 

6. How far the second week ? 

7. How far daily after that right along ? 

8. If too feeble below the knee to hop once around two aisles at first, 
how far should you go on each foot ? 

9. How far after that ? 



SECTION VI. 

FIFTH BELOW - THE - KNEE EXERCISE. 

Directions. — 1. Stand with a dumb-bell in each hand, and 
the chin up. 

2. Breathe slowly and deeply. 

3. Holding the dumb-bells about as high as your elbows, 
swing them gently back and forth a little past your sides, 
quite near to you, as in Fig. 54. 

4. At the same time walk slowly forward. 

5. Only be careful to push as hard as you can with the toes 
and sole of each foot just as it leaves the floor. This hard push- 
ing does much to make the calves full and shapely, and is ex- 



THE LEG. 



151 



cellent also both for the under-thigh 
and for springing the knees back 
into a good position. 

6. Walk in this way up the aisle, 
down the next aisle, and back to 
the point of starting. 

Go this far daily the first week, 
twice as far each day the second 
week, and three times as far daily 
the third week right along. 

This is also a capital home exer- 
cise. A few minutes at it each day 
will do much for your calves, and 
your lungs, chest, biceps, and the 
front of your shoulder will all share 
in the good work. If you can take 
this exercise out of doors, all the 
better. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Fifth Below-the-knee Exercise. 

2. How should the chin be kept ? 

3. How should you breathe during this work ? 

4. How high should the dumb-bells be held in this exercise ? 

5. How should they be swung ? 

6. How fast should you walk in this exercise ? 

7. How should you use your feet in this work ? 

8. What does this hard pushing with soles and toes do to the calves ? 

9. What other good does it do besides enlarging and strengthening 
the calves ? 

10. In what part of this work should the heel touch the floor ? 

11. How hard should you push with each foot ? 

12. In what part of the step ? 

13. How far should you thus walk daily each week ? 

14. What other parts share in this exercise ? 




Fig. 54. 



152 SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 

SECTION VII. 

SIXTH BELOW - THE - KNEE EXERCISE. 

Directions. — 1. Stand erect in the aisle, with arms akimbo, 
and the chin as high as you can hold it. 

2. Now, keeping the knees sprung far back, and never once 
bending them, spring about an inch off the floor. 

3. At no time in this exercise should either heel touch the floor, 
but the springing should be done entirely with the soles and toes. 

4. Repeat this three times. 

Spring in this way three times daily the first week, six 
times daily the second week, twelve times each day the third 
week, and as many times a day after that as you can with com- 
fort. Even one minute at this work each morning and even- 
ing at home after the third week will do much towards making 
the calves large and well-shaped. 

The main thing in this exercise is to keep the legs rigidly 
straight. But this makes it grand worh for the calves, almost 
the best known to quickly make them large and strong. This 
exercise should not be tried by most pupils until after a month 
has been given to the preceding ones. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Sixth Below-the-knee Exercise, 

2. Where should you stand during this exercise ? 

3. How high should the chin be held ? 

4. How should the knees be held all the time in this work ? 

5. How high should you spring from the floor ? 

6. What parts of the foot should do all the springing ? 

7. How many times daily should you thus spring each week ? 

8. What will be the effect of even one minute at this work at home, 
each morning and evening ? 

9. What is the main thing to do in this exercise ? 

10. How long a time should the other Below-the-knee Exercises be 
practised before trying this one ? 



THE LEG. 153 

SECTION VIII. 

A-VAEIETT OF BELOW THE-KNEE WORK. 

There are many other exercises which are capital for the 
calves, giving them strength and size, and adding much to 
the grace and ease of movement of their owner. A light and 
springy dancer is almost sure to have good calves, and a 
strong and often well - shaped instep as well. So is a good 
jumper.* For all this rising on the toes and soles, and hop- 
ping and springing about, tells not only on the calves, but on 
both the bones and muscles of the foot as well, making them 
stronger, better-shaped, and fitter for their work. 

Try a few exercises out of doors at your leisure for these 
same muscles of the calves, such as 

1. Walking on level ground, but pushing hard with the soles and 

toes as your foot leaves the ground. 
3. Walking in the same v^ay up-hill. 

3. Running on the soles and toes, as in Fig, 55. 

4. Hopping on one foot, at first hut a short distance, but, after 

the second month, perhaps two hundred yards or more. 
This does not rest you as running does, because in it one 
foot is at work all the time, while, in running, each foot 
keeps getting brief rests. 

5. Every kind of jumping, as in Fig. 56. 

6. Almost every exercise you can do on a spring-board. 

7. Horseback riding, with only the toes or soles on the stirrups. 

* Notice the statues and full-length portraits of Washington, for in- 
stance, and see what strong and shapely calves he had. Not only a man 
of marvellous physical power in other respects, the kind of jumper he 
was may be gathered from the fact that although the best long-distance 
running jump by an amateur in the United States in 1876 was only 17 feet 
4 inches, by Mr. Eraser, of the Yonkers Lyceum, and as late as 1881 the 
best record was only 22 feet, 4^^ inches, by Mr. Voorhees, of the Manhat- 
tan Athletic Club, yet tradition says that Washington cleared 23 feet, 

7* 



154 



SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



8. Eowing, especially where you use a sliding seat, and so push 

the feet hard against the foot-board. 

9. Walking up-hill, but bending the knees as little as you can. 

10. Walking only on the soles and toes. 

11. Running down many stairs without touching your heels (the 

only way one should run down-stairs). 
13. Walking on stilts, when you only put your toes and soles on 
the foot-blocks. 

13. Vaulting over bar, vaulting-horse, or any other object. 

14. Lawn-tennis, 

15. Skating, and 

16. Eiding on bicycle or velocipede, where you push the pedal, 

not with the heel or hollow of the foot, but with the toes 
. and soles only. 





Pig. 55. 



Fig. 56. 



THE LEa. 155 

These are among the exercises sure to tell rapidly and favor- 
ably on the muscles of the calves, if only steadily and vigor- 
ously followed up. 

After the first month at this work, hopping races between 
five or six pupils at a time, at first for say a hundred yards, 
and afterwards two or three times as far, will soon, if kept up 
daily, even for a few weeks, make the calves shapely, full, and 
strong, and will improve the walk as well. 

Questions. 

1. Mention a variety of below-the-knee work. 

2. What does this work do ? 

3. What persons are almost sure to have good calves ? 

4. Name an illustrious American patriot who was an excellent instance 
of this. 

5. How far is Washington reported to have leaped at a single bound ? 

6. How does this record compare with any other by an amateur in the 
United States up to 1883 ? 

7. Besides making the legs below the knee of good strength, of good 
shape, and of good size, what other part is greatly helped by much hop- 
ping and springing about ? 

8. To get the greatest benefit to the legs below the knees, what parts of 
the feet in horseback riding should be in the stirrups ? 

9. What part should do the pushing in bicycle or in velocipede riding? 

10. What kind of racing after the first month will help to soon make 
the calves shapely, full, and strong ? 

11. What .effect will such racing have on the walk also ? 



156 SOUND BODIES FOE OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



PART XII.— THE SHIN MUSCLE. 
SECTION I. 

FIRST SHm- MUSCLE EXERCISE. 

Close by the shin-bone on the front of the leg is a little, 
but important, muscle, which for brevity we will call the " shin 
muscle." If you walk as fast as you can until you are tired, 
this muscle will be likely to ache next morning. Small as it 
is, if it is not fairly developed, it takes away much from the 
looks of the limb. No one can be an enduring rower without 
having it strong ; and it is actively at work in all kinds of 
running, and very actively in kicking foot-ball. 

We will have but one or two exercises for it. 

Directions. — 1. Stand with arms folded behind you, and 
chin up. 

2. Reaching the right foot a little in front of you, and lifting 
it about a foot from the floor, holding the right knee straight, 
draw the toes of the right foot in over the right instep and 
up towards the right leg as far as possible, as in Fig. 5.7. 

3. Hold it so drawn up a moment. 

4. Then push the right toes downward and outward as far 
as possible, keeping the right knee always straight and stilBP. 
You will feel in a moment that you are setting this little 
muscle actively at work. 

5. Now stand on the right foot, and practise the same exer- 
cise with the left foot. 

6. Repeat this five times. 



THE SHIN MUSCLE. 



1-57 




Fig. 57. 

Do this five times daily tlie first week with each foot, ten 

times daily 'the second week, and fifteen times each day after 

that. 

Questions. 

1. Where is the muscle whicli we call the shin muscle ? 

2. Why is it an important muscle ? 

3. What kind of exercise sets this muscle at work ? 

4. Explain the First Shin-muscle Exercise. 

5. How should the right knee be held throughout this exercise ? 

6. How far up should the toes of the right foot be drawn in front ? 

7. How far should they be extended outward and down^^ard ? 

8. How many times daily should this exercise be practised each week ? 



158 SOUND BODIES FOR OUE BOYS AND GIELS. 

SECTION II. 

SECOND SHIN -MUSCLE EXEECISE. 

Directions. — 1. Hold your chin up and your arms behind you. 

2. Stand on the left foot, and lay one dumb-bell across the 
top of the right foot, as in Fig. 58. 

3. Holding the right knee stiff, slowly sway the right foot 

far out sideways to the 

r^'v^v^ I*' jc right, and slowly the other 

[V:.,\\!(^ \ way far out to the left. 

4. Take care not to let 
the dumb-bell fall off. 

5. If you can not hold it 
1^^ ^^ on securely in this way, 

it may be strapped on. 
After a little time you will 
be able to keep it on with- 
out strapping. 

6. Then change the 
dumb-bell to the left foot, 
and go through a like ex- 
ercise with that. 

V. Repeat this four times. 

Do this four times daily 

with each foot during the 

first week, eight times each 

day the second week, and 

^^" ^^' ten times daily after that. 

The effort to retain the dumb-bell on the top of the foot 

will give this useful little muscle all it wants to do, and will 

soon make it larger and stronger, and add to its owner's skill 

and endurance as a walker, runner, or dancer. 




THE SHIN MUSCLE. 159 

A great variety of other exercises, familiar to boys and 
acrobats, will furnish good work for this little muscle. 

1. Any kind of swimming keeps these muscles vigorously at work. 

2. So does rowing. 

3. Swaying back and forth with the feet in the foot-straps, as de- 

scribed in the Toe-strap Exercise, page 120. 

4. Hopping on one foot with a dumb-bell held on the front of the 

other. 

5. Jumping of any sort, especially upward. 

6. Leaping. 

7. Kicking foot-ball. 

8. Hanging by the toes on the horizontal bar or trapeze. 

9. Swinging by the toes on the rings. 

10. Standing on one foot and reaching the other as high up as pos- 

sible on a side wall. 

11. Fast walking, also, will soon make these little muscles ache, as 

all who ever walked in a race have found out. 

12. So will stooping down as low as you can, if you do not take 

your heels off the floor, 

13. Dancing also sets these muscles at work ; indeed, no person 

can be a really fine dancer until these little muscles are 
thoroughly trained and strong. 

Try any of these, even for a few minutes, and you will soon 
find what kind of shin muscles you have, and what to do for 
them if they are small or weak. 

Questions. 

1. Describe the Second Shin-muscle Exercise. 

2. How far should the upper foot be swung each way in this exercise ? 

3. What special care should be taken ? 

4. How many times daily should this be practised the first week with 
each foot ? 

5. How many times daily the second week ? 

6. How many times each day after that ? 

7. What will be the effect on the shin muscles ? 

8. In what other exercises will it aid the person who is practising it ? 



160 SOUND BODIES FOB OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



REVIEW. 

1. What persons are almost sure to be weak in the muscles on the 
imder-side of the thighs ? 

2. What persons are likely to have these muscles good-sized and well- 
shaped ? 

3. This under-thigh work resembles the work of what part of the arms? 

4. What does the biceps muscle do to the arm ? 

5. What muscles bend the knee ? 

6. What kind of work takes hold directly of these muscles ? 

7. Describe the First Under-side-of-the-thigh Exercise. 

8. How do you do the Second Under-side-of-the-thigh Exercise ? 

9. In what two ways does this exercise benefit you ? 

10. Describe the Third Under-side-of-the-thigh Exercise. 

11. Name various other exercises which help make the under-side of 
the thighs large, strong, and well- shaped. 

12. How should you raise your heels in walking ? 

13. Describe the different ways of walking of the two brothers referred 
to in the lesson. 

14. Describe the First Below-the-knee Exercise. 

15. What is the effect of the daily active use of these muscles ? 

16. How do you do the Second Below-the-knee Exercise ? 

17. What parts does this work strengthen and enlarge ? 

18. Describe the Third Below-the-knee Exercise. 

19. What parts does this exercise greatly benefit ? 

"20. How do you do the Fourth Below-the-knee Exercise ? 

21. Describe the Fifth Below-the-knee Exercise. 

22. What is the effect of this exercise ? 

23. How do you do the Sixth Below-the-knee Exercise ? 

24. What is the principal thing to do in this exercise ? 

25. Name a variety of below-the-knee exercises, 

26. What does this work do ? 

27. To get the greatest benefit to the leg below the knee, what parts of 
the feet in horseback riding should be in the stirrups ? 

28. What parts should do the pushing in bicycle or velocipede riding ? 

29. Where does the muscle which we call the ''shin muscle " lie ? 

30. Describe the First Shin-muscle Exercise. 

31. How do you do the Second Shin-muscle Exercise ? 

32. Name a variety of exercises for the shin muscles. 



APPENDIX. 161 



APPENDIX. 



In the first seven of tlie following tables the pupil will 
see what a rapid and gratifying increase was made through 
exercise by many youths in the various girths of the trunk 
and limbs, and in a few months' time. Boys and girls bave 
a great advantage in that their bones are still plastic, and 
their chests can be expanded and their muscles developed 
more easily than can those of persons in later life. 

In Table YIII. the boy, and in Table IX. the girl, can 
record their height, weight, and various measurements at the 
time they begin these exercises, and one year later can again 
enter the figures which they then find to be correct. Thus 
at any time they can tell at a glance how much they have 
gained in size, how their arms compare in girth, and how 
nearly they are in size like others of their own height and 
age. 

This index will prove useful and interesting also in later 
years. Entries should be made on the same date each year, 
showing the annual progress in this important field of physical 
development. And in after-life it will often prove the only 
true record of one's size and physical proportions, and one 
that the owner would not willingly part with. 

Care should be taken to measure the fore-arm, upper-arm, 
etc., at the largest place each time, so that the measurements 
shall be uniform. 



162 SOUND BODIES FOR OUE BOYS AND GIKLS. 



TABLE I. 

Showing the average state of the development of 200 men upon 
entering the Bowdoin College Gymnasium, from the classes 

of "73, 'H, '75, "76, and '77. 

Age 18.3 years. 

Height 5ft.8in 67.974in. 

Weight 135 lbs 134.9811bs. 

Chest (inflated) 35 in 35.067 in. 

Chest (contracted) 32J in 32.29 in. 

Fore-arm 10 in 10.03 in. 

Upper-arm (flexed) 11 in 10.960 in. 

Shoulders (width) 15^ in 15.602 in. 

Hips 3Hin 31.475 in. 

Thigh..., 191 in 19.612 in. 

Calf 



TABLE II. 

Showing the average state of the growth and development of 
the same number of men (200) after having practised in the 
JBowdoin Gymnasium half an hour a day/bwr times a week, 
for a period of six months, under Dr. Sargent. 

Height 5 ft, 8i in 68.254 in. 

Weight 137 lbs 137.123 lbs. 

Chest (inflated) 36f in 36.829 in. 

Chest (contracted) 33 in 33.206 in. 

Fore-arm lOf in 10.760 in. 

Upper-arm (flexed) 12 in 11.903 in. 

Shoulders (width) 16^ in 16.260 in. 

Hips 33f in 33.875 in. 

Thigh 21 in 20.964in. 

Calf 13iin 13.232 in. 

In this case the apparatus used was light dumb-bells, 2^ lbs. ; 
Indian clubs, 3|^ lbs.; pulley-weights, from 10 to 15 lbs. 



APPENDIX. 



163 



TABLE III. 

Showing average increase of 200 students at Bowdoin College, 
in various measurements, after working hut half an hour a 
day four times a ioeek,for six months, under Dr. Sargent. 



Average 
Average 
Average 
Average 
Average 
Average 
Average 
Average 
Average 
Average 



increase in height , J in. 

increase in weight 2 lbs. 

increase of chest (contracted) f in. 

increase of chest (inflated) If in. 

increase of girth of fore-arm. f in, 

increase of girth of upper-arm 1 in. 

increase of width of shoulders | in. 

increase of girth of hips 3i in. 

increase of girth of thigh 1|- in. 

increase of girth of calf , f in. 



TABLE IV. 

Showing the effect of four hours'^ exercise a week for one year 
upon a youth of 19, at Bowdoin College, under Br. Sargenfs 
direction. This was two hours' work more each week than 
was required of the regular classes. 



s — . 


1 


i 

3 


1 


it 


11 






II 




i 


"3 


Date. 

Nov., '73 

Nov., '74 


Yrs. 

19 
20 


Ft. In. 

5 8 
5 9 


Lbs. 

145 
160 


In. 

361 
40 


In. 

331 

m 


In. 

11 


In. 

12| 


In. 
15| 
17 


In. 

35 
36J 


In. 

191 

22 


In. 

131 
15 


Increase 




1 


15 


3i 


3 

4 


1 


n 


li 


li 


3i 


^ 



The gain at four of the points taken — namely, at the calf, thigh, the 
inflated chest, and in weight — was great ; yet see how little time it took, 
only forty minutes each day. 



164 



SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



TABLE y. 

Taken from Maclaren's ^^ Physical Education^ ShoiciJig effect 
of four months and twelve days' exercise^ under his system, 
on fifteen youths ranging from 16 to 19 years of age. 

Eeturn of Course of Gymnastic Training at the Eoyal Military 
Academy, Woolwich, from Feb. 10th, 1863, to June 22d, 1863. 



No. 


Meabtteements, Etc. 


Inoeeabe. 


t 


1 


2 

be 




^a 


Is 








ig 


u 




< 


il 


1 




^^ 


^^ 




1 , 




Is 


l« 




Yts. 


Ft. In. 


St. Lbs. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


Lbs. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


1 


18 


5 li 


7 8 


291 


n 


81 
















5 2i 


7 8 


30 


9i 


9i 


1 


" 


i 




4 


2 


19 


5 8i 


9 51 


28 


11 


lOi 
















5 8f 


9 11 


m 


11 


llf 


1. 
4 


5i 


3J 




u 


3 


17 


5 5f 


9 1 


26i 




8i 
















5 6i 


9 1 


291 


lOf 


10 


f 


ii 


3 




li 


4 


18 


5 81 


10 


33 


lOf 


lOi 
















5 8i 


10 3 


35 


lOf 


IH 


1 

4 


3 


2 




li 


5 


18 


6 01 


10 13 


32 


101 


91 
















6 11 


11 2 


34 


101 


101 


i 


3 


2 




If 


6 


17 


5 ^ 


8 1 


31 


101 


9| 
















5 U 


8 7 


33 


lOi 


11 


1 


6 


2 




H 


7 


18 


5 5i 


7 13 


26 


n 


7| 
















5 5f 


8 2 


29 


4 


91 


i 


3 


3 


1 
4 


If 


8 


16 


5 6f 


8 3 


281 


9 


8i 
















5 7i 


8 4 


31 


9i 


n 


I 


1 


3^ 


i 


1 


9 


17 


5 8f 


11 3 


31 


Hi 


101 
















5 91 


11 3 


33 


11} 


IH 


1 




2 


" 


f 


10 


18 


5 llf 


11 8 


30 


101 


m 
















5 llf 


11 8 


33 


lOf 


11 


" 


" 


3 


i 


i 


11 


19 


5 7f 


10 2 


33 


10^ 


lOi 
















5 8f 


10 2 


341 


101 


101 


1 


" 


IJ 


" 


f 


12 


18 


5 101 


10 11 


32 


101 


10 
















5 111 


10 11 


331 


m 


11 


If 


" 


u 


" 


1 


13 


19 


5 7f 


11 13 


33 


iH 


12 
















5 9f 


11 13 


351 


Hi 


12J 


If 


" 


21 


" 


i 


14 


17 


5 6f 


9 13 


29 


lOf 


8i 
















5 71 


10 3 


32 


lOf 


9i 


f 


4 


3 


" 


li 


15 


19 


5 101 


10 1 


27i 


lOf 


9f 
















5 m 


10 9 


32f 


lOf 


101 


11 


8 


5i 


" 


H 



APPENDIX. 



165 



TABLE VI. 

Taken from Maclaren's ^^ Physical Education.'''^ Showing ef- 
fect of seven months and nineteen days' exercise, under his 
system, on men ranging from 19 to 28 years of age. 

TABLE OF MEASUREMENTS OF FIRST DETACHMENT OF NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS SE- 
LECTED TO BE QUALIFIED AS MILITARY GYMNASTIC INSTRUCTORS. 







No. 


MEASUEEMENTS, ETO. | 


INCEEASE. 1 


Date. 


< 




1 


4i 




i 


In. 


Lbs. 


In. 


u 

fees. 
In. 


la 






Yrs. 


Ft. In. 


St. Lbs. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


Sept. 11... 


1 


19 


5 8| 


9 2 


33 


n 


10, 












April 30.. 






5 8 


10 1 


m 


io| 


llf 


-1 


13 


4i 


1 . 


If 


Sept. 11... 


3 


31 


5 9 


10 5 


341 


10 


11 












April 30.. 




( 


5 91 


11 1 


38i 


11 


121 


i 


10 


3f 


1 


If 


Sept. 11... 


3 


33 


5 5 


9 7 


34 


m 


12 












April 80.. 






5 5f 


10 2 


37J 


Hi 


131 


f 


9 


3i 


1 


If 


Sept. 11... 


4 


23 


5 7i 


9 13 


37 


lOi 


12 












April 30. . 






5 7f 


10 8 


38i 


IH 


13 


i 


9 


li 


li 


1 


Sept. 11... 


5 


33 


5 8i 


9 10 


36 


10 


11 












April 30.. 






5 81 


10 6 


37 


101 


12 


i 


10 


1 


i 


1 


Sept. 11... 


6 


33 


5 9i 


11 3 


36J 


11 


12 












April 30.. 






5 9J 


11 12 


381 


IH 


13 


i 


9 


2 


i 


1 


Sept. 11... 


7 


33 


5 9 


10 6 


36 


lOf 


12 












April 30.. 






5 9i 


10 11 


m 


11 


13 


\ 


5 


3i 


i 


1 


Sept. 11... 


8 


34 


5 8f 


10 8 


35 


lOf 


12f 












April 30. . 






5 9i 


11 6 


40 


llf 


14 


\ 


12 


5 


1 


If 


Sept. 11... 


9 


36 


5 6i 


9 5 


33 


10 


111 












April 30.. 






5 6| 


9 IH 


86 


m 


12f 


i 


6i 


3 


f 


If 


Sept. 11... 


10 


36| 


5 llf 


12 6 


41 


Hi 


13 












April 30.. 






5 111 


13 1 


42 


Hi 


14 


f 


9 


1 


" 


1 


Sept. 11... 


41 


38 


5 7f 


10 10 


37 


lOi 


121 












April 30. . 






5 8i 


11 9 


40 


llf 


13f 


i 


13 


3 


If 


If 


Sept. 11... 


12 


28 


5 101 


10 9 


87 


lOi 


18 












April 30. . 






5 11 


11 11 


40 


llf 


14 


i 


16 


3 


If 


1 


The men composing this detachmei 


at had been irregularly selected, the 


youngest being 19, the eldest 28, the a 


verage age 24; and, after a period of 


eight months' training, the increase in t 


he measurements of the men were 


— 






Weight. 


Chest. F 


ore-arm. t 


Ipper-arm 






Lbs. 


In. 


In. 


In. 




The smallest gain 




5 


1 


f 


1 






The largest gain 




16 


5 


U 


If 






The average gain 






10 


21 


# u 






4 1 


■^4 















166 



SOUND BODIES FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



TABLE VII. 

Taken from MaclarerCs ''^Physical Education!''' Showing the 
result of one year's continuous practice. 

The following Table shows in another form the Results of 
THE System ; not by Brief Courses or Periods of Voluntary 
Attendance, but by a Year's Steady Practice from Birthday 
TO Birthday, with two Articled Pupils, the Younger being 16, 
THE Elder 20. 



i 


Date. 


MEASUREMENTS, ETC. 


INOEEASB. 


f. 


-a 


.£3 


1 


^a 


u 


•a 


S 

be 


■^ 

% 


£s 


u 


o 




< 




^ 


S 


^s 


p-^ 




g 


6 


^s 


SS 






Yrs. 


Ft. In. 


St. Lbs. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


Lbs. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


A. 


1861, Oct. 17. 


16 


5 2f 


7 10 


31 


8 


9i 














1862, Apr. 17. 


" 


5 4 


8 12 


34^ 


10 


Hi 


li 


16 


31 


2 


2 




" Oct. 17. 


17 


54f 


9 3 


36 


10 


Hi 


* 


5 


H 


(< 


" 












Subsequent 






















Measurement. 














1.863, Mar. 23. 


18 


5 6f 


10 10 


m 


Hi 


13 


n 


21 


n 


n 


li 


B. 


1862, Feb. 24. 


20 


5 8* 


10 13 


34 


m 


llf 














" Aug. 24. 


" 


5 8i 


11 4 


38^ 


12 


121 


f 


5 


^ 


^ 


1 




1862, Feb. 24. 


21 


li 


11 7ji40 


m 


13i 


K 


^ 


li 


i 


i 


T 


hus in the year's work the increase was— 








Height. 


Weight. 


Chest. 


Fore- 
arm. 


Upper- 
arm. 






In. 


Lbs. 


In. 


In. 


In. 




With the younger. . . 


2 


21 


5 


2 


2 






With the elder 




1 


8i 


6 


u 


u 













A stone is fourteen pounds. The gain in weight by the younger, and 
the increase in girth of chest by both, seem almost wonderful. 



APPENDIX. 



167 



APPENDIX vin. 



Table of Measubements of 
THE Annual Increase in the 



; SHOWING 

THE Body and Limbs, 



Size of 

AND THE Effect of Daily Systematic Exercise while at the 
School : 



Name of Boy. 


Date. 


1 


1 


•a 
1 


it 


til 


r 




2 


9 

ila 
,3 


In. 


In. 


In. 


3 

In. 


1st, 188 
" " 188 


Yrs. 


Ft. In. 


Lbs. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


Increase.... 

1st, 188 
" " 188 




























Increase.... 

1st, 188 

" " 188 


























Increase. . . . 

1st, 188 
'' " 188 




























Increase. . . . 





























Note. — Make all the entries in ink. 

Take the height in ordinary shoes. 
Take the weight in ordinary clothes, without overcoat. 
Measure the chest around close under the arms. 

Measure the upper-arm around the largest part when the arm is in the 
position of Fig. 4, page 16. 
Measure the fore-arm around the largest part when the fist is shut. 
Measure the thigh and calf at the largest part of each. 



168 



SOUND BODIES FOR OTJR BOYS AND GIRLS. 



APPENDIX IX. 

Table of Measurements of ; showing 

THE Annual Increase in the Size of the Body and Arms, 
AND THE Effect of Daily Systematic Exercise while at the 
School. 



Name of Girl. 


Date. 


t 

1. 


si 


|| 


i! 


1 

fa 

a "^ 
bo 




I' 




'3 


1st, 188 
" " 188 


Ft. In. 


Lbs. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


Increase 

1st, 188 
" " 188 




















Increase 

1st, 188 

" " 188 














' 






Increase 

1st, 188 
" " 188 




















Increase 





















Note. — Make aU the entries in ink. 



the end. 



